Introducing The Dorset Insider, a new column dedicated to shedding light on local matters with unfiltered honesty and a critical eye. The author – a local parish councillor – will remain anonymous for the sake of candid discourse, but readers can rest assured that their identity is known and trusted by the editorial team. This anonymity allows the columnist to speak openly, challenging the status quo and addressing issues that matter most to our community.
After a morning of trawling through my inbox, rammed with emails complaining either about roads transformed into the Somme by maize harvesters or ninja dog owners stealthily leaving unwanted poop on footpaths, the draft Dorset Plan suddenly appeared.
Dorset Council held a Big Conversation with the community this summer, and on the back of it has just produced a draft plan, which it has shared with parish and town councils.
(anyone can view the draft plan here – Ed).
Am I impressed?
Dorset Council has prioritised Weymouth, noting ‘There are 11 areas in Dorset within the top 20% most deprived nationally for multiple deprivation, up from 10 in 2015. 10 of these are in Weymouth and Portland’.
As a local councillor I would have welcomed a discussion about what the plans are to address rural poverty across Dorset. You only need to compare petrol station prices in Blandford and Yeovil to see the premium local residents pay to live here. Weymouth is undoubtedly a deprived part of Dorset, but rural poverty presents unique challenges that are vastly different from those faced in larger urban areas, where access to services, transport and employment opportunities are more readily available.
And when it comes to tourism, there is a world beyond the Jurassic Coast! The rest of Dorset could benefit from more visitors to boost the local economy and support community growth.
I think you missed a bit
However, what is fundamentally missing from the Dorset Plan – and is an entire Big Conversation in itself – is just how one of the council’s statutory responsibilities will be addressed:
no one seems to have any robust plans for adult social care, which swamps the Dorset budgets each year to the tune of £148.3 million, according to the plan.
I’ll admit it seems it’s also being dodged by the new government, but I would have expected the local council plan to have something to say. Dorset has one of the highest proportions of over 65s in the country – I’d like to see some innovative solutions to support older people and for unpaid carers to get the care and support they need. Instead it seems as though everyone is trying to dodge this particular bullet.
As adult social care is usually the excuse given for other budgets receiving less funding, we really need to see radical change or these ambitious new plans of the council’s to save nature will never materialise. And we will also never stop complaining about potholes and gritting … the local highways budget is only £5.7m.
The planning chestnut
I was heartened to see the need for more affordable homes in Dorset outlined in the plan – but what exactly does that mean for local residents? I am particularly aware of the new annual government target of 3,230 homes in the county. There’s been repeated mention of a new town over the last year or two (and far longer) – but where that will end up is anyone’s guess.
In reality, what tends to happen is that homes that people actually want – bungalows for downsizing and houses affordable on a Dorset, rather than a London, wage – mysteriously disappear from some development plans once outline planning is agreed. Instead, communities either end up with expensive luxury homes that the average Dorset family cannot afford, or really ugly box-like structures with impossible parking arrangements. There are several of these large luxury home developments standing unloved and unsold across rural Dorset right now, and many more large developments remain unfinished until the vacant properties can be sold – it leaves me wondering who exactly the developers are building homes for? It doesn’t look as though they were intended for local people (or whatever the latest Starmer definition of a working person is).
I’d like to see the planners have more power to enforce better quality social and affordable houses that genuinely meet the needs of the people of Dorset. And they need to engage more with local parishes.
In particular, we need to ensure the infrastructure to support more people is in place before sites are concreted over and the roads are either flooded or clogged up with cars.
I’d also like to see stronger consideration given to parish Neighbourhood Plans in both planning strategy and decision-making.
I’m keen for the Dorset economy to grow, raising the profile of the county. Sadly, job opportunities have disappeared from my rural area, to be replaced with yet more housing developments – the luxury variety, obviously, because the developers talked the talk.
Why can’t we instead develop more workspaces for small businesses integrated with every new housing development, so people can walk to work instead of relying on non-existent rural public transport or cars?
I’d also like to see a strong focus on our local food security – we have some excellent, innovative businesses in Dorset but so much more needs to be done to protect both food provenance and our farmers, before cows get cancelled due to their perceived methane effect.
A super council?
Finally, I was intrigued to see recent social media posts from Dorset Council suggesting they would like to merge with Somerset and Wiltshire councils, becoming a devolved ‘super council’.
Apart from the obvious implications of one of those local authorities being profoundly in debt, why wasn’t this bombshell in the plan? It’s a massive development, but not mentioned.
I wait in anticipation for The Super Plan …
