Dorset Local Plan Released

Your Lib Dem councillors have been communicating with residents over the new Dorset Council Local Plan and encouraging people to engage with the consultation stage. 

Dorset Council must mark plots of land as suggestions for potential future housing development. They are required to make this plan to meet the Government’s house-building targets, and plots of land in and around Colehill have been listed as potential sites.

Councillors have held pop-up events in their Dorset Wards to take any questions or queries from their residents and ensure they are best informed on the whole process.

Cllr Andy Todd of Colehill said: “We have taken on lots of feedback and engaged with residents through our pop-up event. We know many of you have concerns, but this is the early stage where you can make comments on the suggested sites as part of the consultation. We are doing our best to gather your views, but please also send comments back to Dorset Council through the Dorset Local Plan consultation page to make sure they are heard."

In Lytchett Matravers & Upton, a large area between Lytchett Minster and Lytchett Matravers has been put forward as a potential future site that could contain up to 5000 new homes.

Cllr Alex Brenton said: “The possibility of building a new village around Lytchett Matravers and Lytchett Minster is causing great concern. Villages should have a distinct boundary, not be joined up into an urban sprawl. A flexible settlement boundary leaves room for incremental unplanned growth.” 

Cllr Andrew Starr said: “The Plan is only in its draft stage. Many of the proposed sites will be unachievable because of flood risk, Nature protection areas and Green Belt designations. We are also concerned about the effect of more nutrient runoff on the state of Poole Harbour. Mitigation is remote or overly technical and hard to see on the ground.”

Much of the plans revolve around the significantly increased housing target set by the current government, almost doubling previous requirements. Dorset Council is obligated to mark potential new sites being developed, or risk the government allowing compulsory development of areas without many checks or controls, just to meet demand.

Cllr Duncan Sowry-House said: “The Government has doubled housing targets for Dorset to 3,230 homes per year. We know we want to meet the need for family homes as well as more social rented housing, to enable people to stay in the area where they grew up. We have no control over the target and therefore have to outline potential new sites to maintain control over what gets built where in the future.”