Objections to a retirement home complex on the former Mountjoy School site in Bridport are expected to dominate a discussion when the application is considered for planning consent next week.

Bridport Town Council, and others, have objected to the application for 38 apartments on the site – claiming there should be affordable units within the development.

Similar arguments were made over another McCarthy & Stone scheme in London Road, Dorchester, but that was approved.

The Bridport scheme is also facing a holding objection about surface water drainage which the company will have to overcome before work can start, should permission be granted.

Planning officers are recommending accepting the application at the area plans committee meeting in Dorchester on September 5.

Their report says the site is suitable for the use, that there will not be any significant harm to neighbouring properties and there are no ‘material considerations’ which warrant refusal.

Access to the site would be off Flood Lane with car parking to the rear of the building.

Revised plans have seen the application reduced from an original proposal for 42 apartments.

Bridport Town Council has maintained its objection to the scheme and says that the £295,000 contribution from the company in lieu of any affordable homes on the site is “insufficient to have any meaningful impact on local need.”

The town council has called on Dorset Council, as the site owner, “to take the opportunity to be creative in developing a council-led initiative to address the identified housing need in Bridport,” rather than accept the McCarthy & Stone proposals for the site.