A RESIDENT has expressed his concerns over access points to a new retirement village in Wimborne.

David Gilderdale, 57, who lives next to the Wimborne Market site earmarked for a retirement village by McCarthy & Stone, said he was concerned about Grenville Road and Station Terrace being used as access points.

Mr Gilderdale said: “I don’t understand why they would use those roads as access points, the main access route currently is through the industrial estate.

“There are currently two big developments along Leigh Road which is going to add to the traffic.

“I have no objection with the development, I think it will look great. My main objection is I think people along those roads, nobody will be happy.

“People who live along these roads are middle ages with grandchildren coming back and kids being able to play out the front.”

Mr Gilderdale said he arranged an online consultation with McCarthy & Stone where he hoped they would reconsider the access points.

“If you look at both access points, Station Terrace is not particularly wide. I just don’t understand why they would go down there, the only thing I can think of is they don’t want their residents to go through a busy industrial park.

“I would like them to use the industrial park rather than blocking it off and using two roads that are narrower and disrupt people living there.

“Turning Grenville Road and Leigh Road into access points will be a problem if there is an issue on the A31.”

A spokesperson for the developer said: “McCarthy & Stone has carefully considered the proposed access points for the site, and has deemed the industrial estate entrance is not suitable for the new residential scheme compared to the other two site entrances on Grenville Road and Station Terrace, which are both residential in nature.

“The typical age of those moving into McCarthy & Stone’s extra care schemes is around 82 years old, therefore car ownership and usage will be much lower than an open market scheme with residents very unlikely to use the road network at peak times.

“McCarthy & Stone’s plans are still at the preliminary stage, and no application has been submitted as of yet.”