DOZENS of objections have been made over plans to build 40 homes and a care facility in Highcliffe.

Nearly 60 comments condemning the plans for major development at Jesmond Avenue in Highcliffe have been flooding into the council, with just a few more days left for submissions.

It comes after a public meeting was organised by Highcliffe Residents Association earlier this month, with standing room only.

The scheme from Brentland Ltd has been earmarked for woodland off Jesmond Avenue, which was once earmarked for a bypass.

Some of the comments included in the 58 objections raise concerns over the pressure on existing facilities such as the doctors surgery and surrounding roads.

One said: "I find this application extremely worrying as it is already difficult to get a doctors appointment at the Highcliffe surgery.

"With the development of the care home facilities and the extensive building that has already occurred just down the road from Highcliffe library it is to be expected that the doctors already overloaded surgery will be unable to provide effective support or care to the Highcliffe community."

Other comments include concerns about a loss of trees with the removal of the woodland, the height of the proposed building, and the potential impact on wildlife.

Part of the area was cleared last year after the land was bought back by Poole-based developers Boyland and Son, of which Brentland Ltd is a part.

It was sold by the company back in 1964 to the former Hampshire County Council as part of a compulsory purchase order to build the Highcliffe Bypass.

The carriageway was never built and Peter Boyland, owner of Boyland and Son, began writing to the authority asking to buy his land back.

A planning statement from the applicant adds: “It is important to note that the site had previously only remained undeveloped because it had been compulsorily purchased to allow for the construction of a road.

“It had previously been the intention that the site would be developed for that purpose but changes in priority meant the road was not delivered.

“The status of the site is not therefore a result of any long term master-planning intention for Highcliffe but is rather a historic anomaly relating to land ownership.”

There have been two letters of support.