A DEVELOPER has tabled a fourth set of plans to build homes in a Highcliffe woodland.

Brentland Ltd has previously been met with huge opposition to its housing proposals for the area of land off Jesmond Avenue.

Having seen two outline applications refused and a decision made to withdraw a third scheme, the company has now revealed its latest vision for the site.

Full planning permission is sought for 17 houses, with a new vehicular access, upgrading an existing footpath, provision of a landscaped communal open space and associated infrastructure.

If approved, 16 four-bed and one three-bed family homes would be built with the removal of more than 200 trees from the site.

A planning statement by Terence O’Rourke Ltd on behalf of Brentland Ltd said the applicants wanted to deliver a “bespoke and sensitively designed scheme of modern, attractive houses, that will complement and blend into the character” of the area.

“The goal of Brentland Ltd is to create a cohesive, high quality, development that improves the landscape and ecological management, and therefore value, of the site, allows residents to access much of the site to gain recreational benefit, and to add value to the area by way of a well-built scheme, helping to meet local housing need,” said the planning statement.

“Importantly, large parts of the site will remain undeveloped and will be accessible to the public.”

The planning statement said BCP Council, and especially the Christchurch area, has failed to demonstrate sufficient housing land supply for the period up to 2026.

“This proposal is for 17 dwellings and will make an important contribution to the supply of housing in the district. Substantial weight can be given to the provision of new homes in the planning balance,” the statement added.

No affordable housing is included in the plan, with this deemed “not viable for this development”. A contribution towards affordable housing provision elsewhere in the conurbation is proposed.

An arboricultural method statement by Treecall Consulting Ltd said the plans would see 245 trees removed from the site – 96 per cent of these are low-quality category C trees or very low quality category U trees suppressing adjacent trees of better quality.

More than 646 trees would be retained on the site, with eight better quality (A and B categories) removed.

Brentland Ltd’s refused schemes sought outline permission for 23 homes and 35 homes and a 68-bed care home. These were rejected by BCP Council last year and Christchurch Borough Council in 2018, respectively. The application withdrawn by the firm proposed 18 houses and 36 apartments.

The site was bought by Hampshire County Council in 1964 with plans for a bypass to be built. However it was resold to landowner Boyland and Son in 2017 after the roads scheme was scrapped.