Christchurch Town Council back plans for coastguard site

Christchurch Town Council supports the scheme for the former Maritime Coastguard Agency training facility at Steamer Point.

Members were presented with the plans at a planning and regulatory committee meeting on December 19.

The proposal is to demolish the existing buildings to make space for ten new detached homes - one three-bed and nine four-bed – and car parking spaces.

The 1.35-hectare site is currently vacant and is in a poor state having been vandalised.

An agent appearing on behalf of developer Pennyfarthing Homes Ltd said that an “ecologically sensitive approach” had been adopted to preserve healthy trees and to “enhance the natural characteristics of the site”.

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The agent stressed that the homes had been designed with a “contemporary architectural style” to ensure a “harmonious assimilation into the wooded clifftop context”.

It was also clarified that “ecological buffers" were created to separate the nature reserve and the woodland from the residential areas, and guidelines of the Bat Conservation Trust and ‘dark skies’ standards had been considered.

Proposed site plan for the former MCA Training Centre site (Image: Luken Beck)

Following the presentation by the agent, the town council highlighted a “crucial need for housing in Christchurch”.

Members acknowledged that the revised scheme would be “in keeping with the environmental and heritage context of the site”.

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It was then agreed that Christchurch Town Council would support the plans, and raise no objections to the scheme.

Pennyfarthing Homes has remained determined to redevelop the vacant land at Steamer Point.

In August 2022, the developer had a scheme for 21 houses and apartments refused by BCP Council for its “unacceptable impact”.

An earlier scheme for 26 houses and apartments was refused in March 2021, with an appeal dismissed in July 2022.

The latest plans for ten homes are said to have “overcome reasons for refusal of the previous appeal”, which included concerns over protected species, trees, and the character of the development.

A decision is yet to be made on the planning application. It will remain open for public consultation until December 29.