ONCE again West Dorset District Council has embarked on a set of plans to change the centre of Dorchester without first asking the people of the town and its surrounding area about the kind of town they want. 

Many of the people attending the presentations on these plans soon realised that little has changed in the way the council treats local citizens since the wave of protest and anger which accompanied the semi-aborted first phase of the Charles Street development. 

Instead, without any genuine prior consultation, the assumption has been advanced that the key priority for Dorchester is to attract and facilitate the building of new large chain stores in the attempt to draw custom away from local ‘rival’ towns; in other words, continue a process of what has been called ‘town cloning’. 

Already, a lot of public money has clearly been spent on hiring the services of ‘retail experts’. What Descartes meant to say was: ‘I shop, therefore I am’.

The narrow thinking on display is depressing and frustrating. 

Very little thought has been given to how a much more varied set of town features can enhance the attractiveness of a town and, thereby, enable it to flourish economically. For example. investing much more in the historic, archaeological and cultural heritage, capitalising on and improving the natural environment with plantings, trees, walks and cycle paths, supporting smaller independent retailers as has been successfully achieved in Frome. 

No reference was made in the presentation to the value of incorporating new housing in any new development, especially social housing for rent, to enable young families to live in the centre of town.

The proposal to turn the Fairfield site over to new retail stores and move the historic Dorchester market to an unspecified alternative site reflects an attitude to town development that privileges the interests of the more wealthy who can afford the shopping trip combined with a film and a meal, described as typical in Tuesday’s presentation, over the less wealthy for whom Dorchester market is, and has been for generations, a social gathering as well as an opportunity to purchase affordable market produce.

What is certain is that a town will not flourish when hundreds of jobs are cut by its largest employer, DCC, when key public services are allowed to decline and when a successful tourist office is closed. I urge WDDC to make its next step a massive local listening exercise.

Peter Barton
Frampton