Plans submitted for 330-home 'retirement village' at Matchams Stadium site near Ringwood

A PLANNING application has gone in for a 330-home "retirement village" and a 60-bed care home at the Matchams Stadium, near Ringwood.

Inspired Villages said the development will be for the over-70s and include a café, restaurant, shop and hair salon plus a wellbeing centre with fitness studio, gym and inside pool.

The site is currently known for the track where for years there have been motor sports, including banger racing. A number of objections have been made to the redevelopment.

The application said: “The noise level of this (the racing) along with its other uses, some of which are unauthorised, create a large disturbance in the surrounding heathland and greenbelt.”

But in 12 letters of objection, local residents said the raceway should stay, with one stating: “Ringwood raceway has been a home-from-home for me and my family for multiple years, and has kept me, as well as many others, out of trouble and off the streets.

“It’s not just a race track it is much more.”

Another fan said: “If things like this get taken away then do you not expect more racing and car meets to be undertaken on the roads and put other road users and the public at risk?”

One mum commented: “This is such fun for the whole family. We spend many evenings up there with my children.

"They love it. It’s a great evening out. We will all be very sad to see it go. Please don't take this away. It's a busy place and lots of families will miss it.”

Others said there was no need for retirement living, with one saying: "We don't need any more homes for older people. It's the younger generation that need the homes.”

The application said a sports assessment would be conducted into the provision of similar facilities in a "traversable distance" and whether they were large enough to "absorb" the people who currently use the stadium.

Ahead of the formal submission to Dorset Council, the developer held a public consultation about the project whose results were outlined in the application.

In response to whether there was a local need for older people's housing, 46 said no and 10 said yes.

Twenty-eight did not support the proposals, against two who did.

Of the three positive comments included in the report, one said: “Development of this site is long overdue.

"It is currently an environmental disaster and various schemes have fallen in the past. It is not an asset to the local area.”