Former school playing fields in the middle of Langton Matravers, Dorset, are to be redeveloped for housing – but 40 percent of the new homes will have to be affordable and the rest can’t be sold as second homes.
Despite concerns about new homes blotting out village views to Swanage Bay and the extra traffic that more housing will bring to narrow roads, planning permission was granted to further develop the Old Malthouse School site off the High Street, at the Dorset Council’s eastern area planning committee on Wednesday 18th February 2026.
The number of new homes (within the red line) was reduced from 20 to 15 by the developers at the request of the planners
Objections raised by parish council
Dorset councillors heard that the development will bring more young families into the village, where currently about one house in five is a second home and where the village school would benefit from increasing the number of pupils on its roll.
The site was last used as a school in 2007 and already the former school buildings have been redeveloped and an extra 19 homes are nearing completion.
This new scheme, submitted by OMH Land Ltd of Bournemouth, will create 15 additional homes and were opposed by Langton Matravers parish council.
Concerns were also raised by the local Dorset Council ward member, Ben Wilson, and by Sports England, which objected to the loss of playing fields.
But planning committee councillors backed the scheme after planning officers said the proposal complied with local and national policy and had been revised to address the site’s highly sensitive landscape and heritage setting.
The Old Malthouse School closed in 2007 and while the former buildings have already been converted to housing, its playing fields have remained undeveloped since
No second homes allowed
Six out of the 15 new homes will be classed as affordable and families with a local connection to Langton Matravers or Purbeck will be given priority. A number will be available to rent while the others will be classed as affordable to buy.
The nine houses available on the open market will only be allowed to be sold as primary residences meaning they cannot become second homes.
This is under the new rules brought in under the Purbeck Local Plan and the development is one of the first required to meet this regulation.
The housing will sit on four and a half hectares north of the High Street, on land previously used as school playing fields, a tennis court and what used to be an open air swimming pool, with open views across the valley to the Purbeck Ridge and Swanage Bay.
It lies within the Dorset National Landscape and partly within the Langton Matravers conservation area, making it ‘highly sensitive’ in terms of landscape and heritage, especially as two Grade II listed buildings, Little Durnford and Windward, sit on the site boundary.
Developers applied to build mostly two storey homes to the south of the site, closest to the village, while keeping some open space to the north, as well as a central green area, a sports court and a play area for the community, school and nursery to use.
Work is still under way on the adjacent site which received planning permission for 19 homes in 2020
OId Malthouse school closed in 2007
Planning officer Diana Mezzogori-Curran said that the site was originally a brewery, before being converted to a private preparatory school, the Old Malthouse School, which eventually closed in 2007 due to falling pupil numbers.
Diana Mezzogori-Curran said:
“Since the closure of the school, the site has remained largely vacant and underutilised. It currently comprises a hard-surfaced sports court, an existing nursery play area, and remnants of an open-air swimming pool.
“It should be noted that Langton Matravers school and nursery have a private arrangement with the current owners to continue using the existing nursery play area.
“Since the school’s closure, the site has been identified as a potential location for housing within strategic planning documents, subject to compliance with heritage and landscape policies.
“A planning application for 19 homes to the immediate south of the site was approved in October 2020 and that is still under construction.”
The school’s former tennis and netball courts will be kept and enhanced as a multi sport area for the village
Residents worried about speeding
Dorset Council received 18 public objections to the new plans, as well as a formal objection from Langton Matravers parish council.
Concerns focused on road safety, with residents worried about speeding, congestion and the narrow access to Old Malthouse Lane.
Langton Matravers parish council said that visibility at the High Street junction was already poor and warned that additional traffic on the site would be dangerous. Despite the claims, the committee was told there were no reasons to reject the application on any highway grounds.
Villagers also objected to loss of views out towards Swanage Bay, an impact on the village’s dark skies policy, pressure on existing sewers and drains, the loss of mature trees, and the risk of the site being expanded northwards in future.
Sport England complained about the loss of former school playing fields, which led to the applicant agreeing to keep and enhance the existing tennis court as a multi-sport area.
Views out towards Ballard Down are appreciated by the village
“Undisguised assault on conservation area”
Langford Matravers resident Leigh Merrick told the meeting:
“Today’s bid is the third phase for this developer who has been involved on the site for eight years. The current second phase started building on site in spring 2023 and will likely complete later this year, nearly four years later, for 19 new units.
“The first phase saw six units being converted, and flooding and drainage have been part of the ongoing problem for the site at present.
“This third phase is an undisguised assault on the conservation area and the national landscape, the site has views all over Purbeck and unrivalled and very popular vistas to Ballard Down and the Isle of Wight.
“We are in an age that increasingly cherishes assets like these and I believe that what is planned is damaging to that enjoyment. The village scores low on services and shops and jobs, but pretty high on homes that are not fully occupied.
“High on the list of difficulties is the traffic danger on the junction with the High Street, which we have warned about and complained about to Highways over the last three decades.
“There has been a litany of bumps and scrapes here over recent years and an extra 40 households worth of traffic is a recipe for disaster here.”
The new housing development was unanimously approved on the Old Malthouse School playing fields site
“Think about public safety here”
Dorset councillor for the ward, Ben Wilson, said he appreciated the amendments the developers had already made to their original plan, but said it was impossible to ignore the 19 homes currently being constructed nearby and the traffic that they would bring.
Ben Wilson said:
“My intention is not to oppose the development of this site, but to ensure that the impact on the local area and residents is fully understood and mitigated against.
“With a development of this scale in a protected rural setting it is legitimate for local residents to have concerns and seek reassurances.
“We need to be thinking about public safety here and I’m not convinced yet that Highways has fully assessed the impact of these two developments together, as they would generate more than 80 traffic movements each day.
“It is a blind junction close to the village school and I do wish to point out that local residents have already had to endure almost four years of development here.
“But it is great that these homes are going as primary residences, that shows that the Purbeck Local Plan is working.”
Further information
- The plans P/FUL/2025/04406 are on the Dorset Council planning website
