THE third phase of Dorchester’s Brewery Square will see almost 200 extra homes, many of them classed as ‘affordable.’

It will also see a new road link between Weymouth Avenue and Prince of Wales Road near the Culliford Road rail bridge.

Details of the scheme’s final stage were outlined to town councillors in an online briefing on Monday evening and were universally welcomed.

The project has been one of the town’s biggest successes in recent years bringing in visitors from a wide area to use its restaurants, shops and cinemas.

But for many the development is also ‘home’ – and will now provide another 194 units, mainly apartments, 87 of them at a reduced market rate or shared equity.

The biggest of the proposed blocks will be Greenwood Gardens with more than 70 flats, its staggered balconies a feature of the design. Hancock House will have 60 homes while The Malthouse will provide 25 apartments. The scheme plans town houses along Eldridge Street and along Bitter End.

Between the different elements of the scheme will be 87 affordable homes, 63 of them in Hancock House, with the remainder shared between other plots. Some will be offered at a discount on market value, others on a shared equity basis.

The site will also have a play area, although a limited amount of other open space. Extra planting is being proposed to soften the edge of the development with the railway.

Sanjiv Gohil, from  CZWG Architects, said that the distinctive copper colour which has been a feature of earlier phases, will continue through the next phase. He said he had started working on Brewery Square 18 years ago and said the scheme would see him through a few more years.

Town councillors welcomed the proposals with a few minor changes suggested. Cllr Gareth Jones said thought needed to be given to road safety at the Prince of Wales Road/Culliford Road bridge junction when the Bitter End road link was opened. Cllr Molly Rennie said safety also needed to be considered around the play area, where there was car parking proposed nearby.

Cllr Les Fry asked for additional ‘green’ facilities – car charging, alternative forms of heating and cycle parking. He said the site could be seen to be leading by example, if it got this element right.

Cllr Rennie proposed welcoming the development plans for phase three : “I am really pleased that isn’t different from the proposals at the start and it will pull the site together,” she said.