THE Dorset councillor leading on planning in the county has been labelled obdurate and set in his ways, not prepared to listen to alternative views.

But planning portfolio holder Cllr David Walsh says he and the planning team at Dorset Council are keen to hear public comments about the draft Local Plan and will continue to do so: “We are exploring all the options we have for the Dorset Council Local Plan. We are taking into consideration all responses received in the consultation, but these need to be balanced up with the future needs of Dorset and the current National Planning Policy Framework. This is not just about housing, it’s about making Dorset a great place to live work and visit.”

The critical comments about Dorset Council’s handling of the plan consultation process were made at a Dorchester town council planning and environment committee meeting by Giles Watts from the Dorchester Deserves Better Campaign Alliance.

He told the meeting that Dorset Council appeared not to want to hear the widespread objections over plans for thousands of homes north of Dorchester and were sticking to claims that the rural county needed 39,000 new homes, despite a lack of evidence that they were actually needed.

Mr Watts said Dorset Council was also failing local people by not exploring all the options to create more affordable homes, at the right place and at an affordable price.

“David Walsh and his department are very obdurate and don’t want to listen to anything else and are set in their ways,” said Mr Watts.

He told the meeting that the umbrella organisation has a membership of 48 organisations, including nine town or parish councils and between those organisations represented 37,000 people.

He said that Dorset Campaign to Protect Rural England had undertaken a detailed analysis of responses made so far to the draft local plan and concluded that 91 per cent disagreed with the development strategy.

Mr Watts said that although there were grounds to argue that Dorset had the ‘exceptional circumstances case’ not to comply with the Government’s standard method of assessing housing need, mainly because of the large amount of green belt or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Dorset Council had persisted with the 39,000 new homes figure – even offering to take an addition 8,000 homes for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.

Town councillors voted at the meeting to accept an invitation to a briefing with a planning company helping promote the 3,500 home Dorchester North development.

Members will also seek a meeting with Charminster and Stinsford parish councils which have also been invited to meet the Hyas team.

Said Cllr Les Fry: “We need to be a united front, otherwise it will be divide and conquer.”

Hyas, from Newport Pagnall, say on its website that it is “an exciting town planning, master planning and placemaking consultancy that supports and provides advice to help strategic projects.”