A PROPOSED plan for 1,000 homes would “change the face” of a small Purbeck village.

Concerns have been raised that a plan to build new houses in Purbeck could see a dramatic change to the village of Wool.

Under the proposals, 3,195 homes could be built to meet governmental targets given to Purbeck District Council (PDC).

1,000 of these would be in Wool, 650 would be in Lytchett Minster, 500 would be in Wareham town, Moreton Station would have 350, North Wareham would have 205, Upton would have 100, 40 would be built in Langton Matravers and 20 in Harman’s Cross.

Swanage’s housing allocation is currently being looked at under their Local Plan, this will undergo an independent examination later this month.

Wool parish councillors have voiced concerns and are urging residents to get involved in the public consultation which starts on June 2 and will run for six weeks.

Wool parish councillor David Way said they would be running an evening themselves to discuss the plans at the D’Urberville Centre in the village on Tuesday, June 7 at 7pm.

Mr Way was part of a working group originally asked to look at the potential for new homes in the area.

He said that when they looked into it they found potentially room for a maximum of 500 homes, but said the parish council was concerned that 1,000 new homes would “change the face” of the village and put pressure on infrastructure including schools, sewerage, electricity, roads and shops.

He said: “As you can imagine, Wool is an old village. Our infrastructure is creaking. We have one road that run through the village- it’s the A352 and it goes over a level crossing. Even at the best of times it can cause congestion. If we had 1,000 houses with a minimum of 2,000 extra people, you would get a lot more congestion going through the village.”

He added: “The parish council is concerned about it. We submitted a plan that we think is generous. Despite our cooperation it still feels like we are having these things potentially done to us.

“We are desperately trying to get as many people in the parish as possible involved in the consultation so their voices can be heard.”

Councillor Peter Wharf, Chairman of PDC’s Partial Review Advisory Group said the Purbeck Local Plan had been approved in 2012 by an independent planning inspector on the condition that the council would review it to see whether more development was possible in the future.

He added: “On 10 May, district councillors will be asked to agree a consultation on the plan. An independent review has established that there is demand for significant further development and, to accommodate this, several areas in the district have been identified as potential housing development sites, including Wool.

"The consultation would give everyone the opportunity to have their say on future development in the district.

“Without an approved up-to-date plan, the council would have potentially little control over where development would take place in the district.”