A SCHEME to install temporary accommodation for people with physical or learning disabilities on a former Wareham school site is set to be approved.

Members of Dorset County Council’s regulatory committee are being recommended to grant temporary planning permission for the development when they consider the application next week.

The Wareham Middle School site has been unused since 2013 when the buildings were demolished.

Plans for a more widespread redevelopment of the land at Worgret Road, including the construction of a new ‘health hub’, care home and housing, are being put together by the council.

If its application is approved by its own regulatory committee on Thursday, the 18 units of temporary accommodation would be in place until this work is carried out.

The council says there is a “chronic” shortage of accommodation for people with learning disabilities across Dorset.

A statement in its planning application says: “Dorset County Council has a cohort of individuals who have an urgent need for accommodation and support in the Wareham area.

“These individuals have learning disabilities and can be most effectively supported in detached units of accommodation benefiting from shared support services on site.”

Eighteen modular housing units were purchased by the council in March last year – at a cost of £1.5 million – and these would be installed on the site.

Planning permission would remain in place for three years – a move which has been supported by Purbeck District Council.

Concerns have been raised in 29 letters of objection about the suitability of the site for this type of accommodation and about the standards of the housing.

However, a report to the committee by planning officer Charlotte Rushmere says there is “an immediate and compelling need” for temporary accommodation and recommends that planning permission is granted.

“The in principle acceptability of developing temporary modular housing at the proposed site to meet an urgent housing capacity need for vulnerable adults who need care accords with local plan policies,” she says.

“The proposal would create capacity in Purbeck where there is an acute shortage of suitable accommodation and thereby satisfy an identified and immediate housing need.”

Her recommendation includes a condition limiting the permission to three years which requires the site to be cleared by December 31 2022.

Councillors will consider the application on Thursday.