CONTENTIOUS proposals to knock down one house in a Poole conservation area to make way for a dozen flats have been lodged with council planners.

AJ Developments Ltd want to transform the 0.35-hectare site at 8A Lindsay Road, Branksome Park, despite a number of objections from neighbours.

The plan, officially lodged with BCP Council, is to seek permission for a four-storey apartment block on the plot.

In the design and access statement accompanying the proposals, prepared by Pure Town Planning, developers argue the staggered scale of the development will not impact on neighbours nor create "any undue harm upon the character or appearance of the conservation area."

However, neighbours do not agree.

Paul Turner, of Lindsay Road, submitting his objection to BCP Council said: "These flats are likely to become second homes which will not help the general housing problem in the area."

He also says the additional traffic generated by the scheme will affect the area.

"Branksome Park is the jewel of Poole," said Mr Turner. "Branksome Park is a green lung against the pollution elsewhere.

"The principles of the Branksome Park conservation area are enormous and should be saved."

Meanwhile, Belgrave Road resident Vicky Moss highlights flooding issues in the area, which she thinks additional development will only exacerbate.

"The area between Wilderton Road and Western Road was often very muddy with poor drainage," said Mrs Moss. "The footpath is now often impassable with water over 250mm high in some places.

"Water run off from the higher ground which surrounds the woods appears to be collecting at the bottom of the valley where footpaths are located and it is starting to flood Wilderton Road, Leicester Road, Western Road and Tower Road West.

"In the 16 years I have lived here I have regularly walked along this footpath and never seen flooding so far up the Branksome Park Woods."

The Pure Town Planning design and access statement concludes: "The proposal has been designed to work with its site context and delivers an attractive scheme without harming the character or appearance of the Branksome Park Conservation Area."