Planet Wimborne along with many other organisations are calling on Dorset Council to re-think the Local Plan. The Dorset Deserves Better campaign started on Monday 17th January 2022 with a letter sent to Cllr Flower, the leader of the Council, other Dorset Cllrs and parish and town councils, asking them to re-think the Plan as, in its current form, it would:
- Do great harm to Dorset, through adverse impact on its natural environment, landscape and historical character
- Fall short of meeting the needs of Dorset’s population for the right houses in the right place at the right price
- Fail to face up to the global challenges of climate change and loss of wildlife, which are spelt out in the Climate & Ecological Emergency Strategy adopted by Dorset Council
The good news is that Cllr Flower has been talking with central government to ask for changes to the Local Plan that is right for Dorset, arguing that the current national planning framework is not providing councils with the means to promote sustainable development through their Local Plans but is instead about chasing housing targets. You can see Cllr Flower's article in January's Council news and Dorset Deserves Better response. As you can see it is still vital to keep the pressure on the Council to agree to change the Local Plan.
The Dorset Deserves Better campaign is asking PW, and all signed up groups, to contact our Dorset Councillors and parish/town councils to tell them why we object to the Local Plan and urge them to put pressure on Dorset Council to change its Local Plan. The PW action group will do this and will also support members in contacting their councillors and MPs to continue to build momentum for change.
You can catch up with all the news about the campaign on the Dorset Deserves Better website.