Concerns over farmland plans in Talbot Village

Talbot Village Trust has applied to BCP Council for permission to designate land at Highmoor Farm as a heathland support area, aimed at reducing pressure on the nearby and protected Talbot Heath.
But the proposal has prompted concerns it could be "the beginning of the end" for the farm and a precursor for the planned business park neighbouring the site.
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Similar plans to convert part of the farm had been included in the controversial development of the site first proposed in 2000. These were eventually rejected more than ten years later following an appeal.

The trust has now filed its application to create a heathland support area (HSA) to reduce human pressure on Talbot Heath. 

The site is identified for such a use in the Poole Local Plan which also designates neighbouring land for an "innovation quarter".

Council planning policy says the aim of an HSA is to spread public access to heathland over a wider area.

“The biodiversity of the heath is adversely affected by human pressures, which are caused inadvertently by the use of the area for informal recreation, as well as deliberately through misuse such as arson and fly-tipping,” a statement submitted on behalf of the trust by consultants Intelligent Land says.

“The HSA will provide an alternative area for recreation to divert pressures off the heath, as well as space to support the heath through biodiversity gains.”

It adds there are “partial similarities” to what was proposed in 2000 and that this part of the project was not cited as a reason for the refusal of the overall development.

But the application has already attracted objections, including from Nick Dobbs, an administrator for the Preserve Talbot Heath Facebook group.

CPRE objects to building on Highmoor Farm (Viewpoint Feb 2023 Volume 20, Issue 7) (https://www.dorsetview.co.uk/publication/dorset-view-february-2023-volume-20-issue-7) because building on green fields and not focusing development on brownfield sites.

Planning application (APP/22/01455/F) for a new 11606 m2 Nuffield Health Hospital BCP Council and provision for 13,394 m2 of employment, healthcare & university-related floor space.