There is a proposal to build 3,500 homes north of Dorchester
Environment campaigners have claimed Dorset’s draft Local Plan proposals for 39,000 new homes in the county over the next 17 years should be halved.
The Dorset Climate Action Network says the current Dorset target is flawed and could not be achieved without damage to Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and greenfield sites and would impede the council’s own climate strategy to cut greenhouse gas emissions. They also say it would be against Government planning policy to protect the best green spaces.
Professor Michael Dower and the Dorset Climate Action Network claim in a letter to Dorset Council that the planning portfolio holder Cllr David Walsh is wrong when he suggests Government housing targets have to be followed and that the county needs to also allow for 9,000 extra homes which Bournemouth and Poole is unable to accommodate.