By Marilyn Barber | newseditor@dorsetview.co.uk

Dorset Council says it has listened to respondents to the contentious Draft Local Plan – and consequently it is re-shaping it.

The authority received an unprecedented 9,000 responses to is consultation and at the recent Cabinet meeting it admitted it had become clear that the National Policy, regulations and local constraints in place for councils when devising these plans were preventing them from coming up with the best possible Local Plan that reflects the needs and aspirations of Dorset’s residents.

Respondents challenged the housing numbers, saying that they should reflect the needs of the county and not blindly follow a government calculation and not include housing for BCP Council.

People called for more affordable housing across the area, helping working families and young people to live in Dorset

Additional housing should protect Dorset’s unique natural environment and tackling climate change should be a priority.

Infrastructure requirements of new development was also a prime comment on the Plan with the provision of public transport, roads, health and education services and utilities to ensure the needs of residents are met.

Over the past few months, the Leader of the Council has been in discussions with Michael Gove, the former Secretary of State for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and with the chief planning officer and other senior civil servants.

There is now a new timescale for the adoption of the new Dorset Council Local Plan. It has been moved from 2023/4 to 2026.

The county is to be a pilot for the new national approach to local plans being introduced through revised national policy and legislation. This will allow Dorset to take advantage of improvements such as a plan-led system shaped by engagement with communities, making use of support from Government and where development accords with what the plan sets out, streamlining processes and a national suite of development management policies.

As part of this, the Government is planning to remove the ‘duty to cooperate’ which currently requires the council to take account of unmet needs that neighbouring authorities such as that BCP Council cannot deliver.

At the cabinet meeting, Cllr David Walsh, portfolio holder for Planning said that whilst the council accepted that access to affordable housing is currently a challenge for some Dorset residents more affordable housing needs to be built. However the right development was required in the right places, at the right quality respecting the county’s unique and important natural environment.

Dorset Councils says it will work with Homes England to provide more focus on new or significantly expanded settlements to help deliver the longer-term growth needs of Dorset, with the necessary infrastructure (transport, utilities, health and education services)

Climate and Ecological Emergency commitments are needed in locally produced planning policy.

Importantly Dorset Council is seeking confirmation from Government of a temporary exemption from housing land supply requirements until the new Local Plan is adopted. This will ensure Dorset can be protected from harmful unplanned development in the interim period.