A MASTERPLAN approach will oversee development north of Dorchester where more than 3,500 homes could eventually be built.

The technique was used at Poundbury where Leon Krier’s vision for the big extension to Dorchester won international acclaim.

Planning policy officer Trevor Warrick told a meeting in Dorchester that the plan would seek to encourage “a sense of place” for the proposed new extension to the county town.

In addition to the new homes, of all sizes, ten hectares will be set aside for employment and a similar sized plot for a school campus.

A local nature reserve, trails and cycle paths are also proposed together with shops and other community facilities.

But the suggestions have already raised questions.

Cllr David Taylor told Tuesday’s district council overview and scrutiny committee that his biggest fear was the lack of planning for the additonal traffic the site would bring to Dorchester town centre.

He suggested that with other schemes also being considered in the area Dorchester itself might need an extra 10,000 car parking spaces over the course of the revised Local Plan which will run until 2036.

Planning policy officer Trevor Warrick said that multi-storey and decked car parking might have to be considered for the town centre, possibly making use of car parks already owned by the district council: “We will need to look at existing and future levels of car parking,” he said.

Cllr Tim Harries said the area might be dubbed “Dorchester North” but was actually in the parishes of Charminster and Stinsford – which, he suggested might mean that boundaries would have to be re-drawn.

He asked for facilities such as GP surgeries and schools to be built at an early stage because Dorchester was, as he said, “already at bursting point.”

There was also concern about how Dorchester’s sewage works, at Louds Mill, would cope with the additional people and, if the site there had to be expanded, what would happen to the adjoining household recycling centre.

Mr Warrick said a household recycle centre had been suggested for the Dorchester North site but the idea had been dropped.