by Trevor Bevins, Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Many Dorset sites identified for development in the current draft Local Plan are likely to disappear from the document in the next stage.
Former council leader Spencer Flower says there has been “a significant amount of public unrest,” over some of the sites identified in the current document as potential places for housing or job creation schemes.
The Verwood councillor says some sites have been put in the draft plan without the land owners consent or have been included even when they are likely to be in contravention of national planning policy guidelines, or had been excluded in previous local plans.
Planning portfolio holder Cllr Shane Bartlett says many of the sites were included for consultation largely because the National Planning Policy Framework suggested that councils should widen their scope in order to find more sites for housing – with housing targets significantly increased by the Government.
He said the same planning guidelines had also resulted, or would result, in some Green Belt land, where development is only allowed in special circumstances, being re-graded as Grey Belt, making those areas more likely to be developed.
“The guidance says we should consider all sites, but we will not taking forward sites where landowners say they don’t want their land to be considered. Before the final stage we will contact the owners of land to check availability – the final draft (of the Local Plan) will include list of those sites not being taken forward,” he said.
The next draft of the plan is expected to be produced for another round of public consultation in August 2026, with that stage expected to be completed by December 2026.
This stage of the plan was due to have been completed by now but has been extended until the end of October because of a large public response and technical issues on the council’s website.
The timetable suggests that the next Dorset Local Plan is expected to be adopted by the autumn of 2027.
