PLANS to build 11 houses on the former Wessex Water depot site in Bridport have horrified neighbours.

Wessex Water wants to build 11 new homes – some three storey – and convert the existing 1900s red brick building into three houses.

Houses in Folly Mill Lane back on to the site and residents say they will be hemmed in by the three-storey buildings which will also block out their light.

Ninety-year-old Peggy Boyne, who has been there for nine years, said: “We don’t want it and we don’t need it.”

Mrs Boyne, who lives with daughter Fran Silix-Alba at the Old Stables in Folly Mill Lane, added: “It’s ridiculous to put three-storey buildings there it is going to completely block out our light and privacy will be a real issue for us.

“I understood that they will have very steep pitched roofs and the third bedroom is going to be in the roof.

Fran added: “My brother who is very big in building engineering said the light would not be so much of a problem in the summer.

“But in the winter when the sun is much lower it will have a real affect on our light.

“The light in our main room isn’t particularly wonderful at the moment.

“We got the letter on Thursday and we have three weeks to get our objections in.

“We will lose all that hedge which is absolutely full of birds.

“They are struggling so much with loss of habitat and I don’t know if councils take that into account but these days it should be high on the agenda.”

Although the height was the main issue they were also concerned that the was not enough parking space.

Mrs Lilian Baldwin, 92, who lives next door at The Old Stables, said: “Once they get the houses there, there is nothing to stop people hopping over the wall and that worries older people like me.

“When you get old you don’t want a lot of noise. We feel really fed up because they don’t worry about us oldies “You imagine 11 houses like the one the others side of the car park in front of us trying to cram them in like a lot of chicken houses.”

Agents and architects Compass Architectural Consultants Ltd said in a statement: “Apart from the adjacent listed cottages to the east of the application site there existing properties in the vicinity are sufficient distance not to be significantly affected by the proposal either by overshadowing or overlooking.”

BRIDPORT Town Councillors said the plans for the Wessex Water site were out of keeping with the character of the area and had insufficient parking.

They recommended that West Dorset District Council refuse the plans.

Coun Ros Kayes (pictured) said the developer’s statement that there was no demand for the old office buildings was not true.

She said: “My feeling is they have been sitting on this for years and years allowing it to deteriorate when the community could have used it and they are trying to pack in as much money-making property as they can get.

“There is a use for that building in its current form and there are people who want to use it.”

Plans committee chairman Coun Sarah Williams said there would be a minimum of 28 cars going in and out several times a day which would create chaos and be ‘absolute bedlam’ on a Saturday.

Coun Phil Lathey said the buildings were out of character.