LIB DEM senior councillors have been accused of concentrating too much on Dorset’s coastal strip – at the expense of towns in the north of the county.

The new administration, which took power at County Hall in May, are also said to  have encouraged expected responses to consultation questions.

Both allegations have been strongly denied by Communities Portfolio holder, Weymouth councillor Ryan Hope.

The claims come from chairman of the Sustainable Shaftesbury Advisory Committee, Richard Thomas.

While welcoming the council’s recent ‘Big Conversation’ Roadshow which visited different parts of the county Mr Thomas says it was not run in an open way.

“The actual process involved what I would define as the 'motherhood and apple pie' approach; choices being put to the public that no one in their right mind could possibly disagree with and hence produce a pre-determined result. Also at fault was the almost complete focus on the coastal strip communities as if nothing much mattered in Dorset north of Blandford and the absence of any cabinet members at the drop-ins,” said Mr Thomas.

He is also critical of the consultation for town and parish councils on the Dorset Councl five-year plan, which started on October 16th and continues until November 8th.

“This is again too little too late. So while it's heartening to see the new administration start to improve on public engagement with the residents of Dorset over the Council's Plan for the next five years, it would be even more encouraging if the wider public could be told more precisely what is being proposed and when, and to what eventual end so that they, too, can feel consulted and feed into their local councils,” said Mr Thomas.

Cllr Hope says that despite what Mr Thomas claims the ‘Big Conversation’ meetings were “a public engagement and not a statutory consultation.”

He says two of the twelve events were held in Shaftesbury and Blandford with online exchanges also possible for anyone across the county.

“We received a really positive and constructive response from residents across Dorset, and from many town and parish councils. There is a very high level of public support for our four  proposed strategic priorities of Housing, Climate and Nature, Economic growth, and Communities for all. Residents’ feedback is enabling us to shape the detail of our new Council Plan, and we will share more details of this over coming weeks.

“In addition to the main Big Conversation activity, and in response to requests from town and parish councils for further detail, we are sharing a draft of the new Council Plan with councils for 3 and a half weeks, prior to approval through Cabinet and Full Council. This means town and parish councils will have had two extensive opportunities to have their say on our plan,” said Cllr Hope, who adds that he “absolutely refutes” the claim that the focus is only on Dorset’s coastal communities.