‘WE WILL continue to fight’.

That was the defiant message from opponents to West Dorset District Council’s new £9.7million offices at a packed meeting in Dorchester.

Around 150 people attended the meeting organised by the BOSS (Build Offices on Stratton House Site) group at the town’s Corn Exchange.

A representative of West Dorset District Council was conspicuous by their absence as the authority turned down the opportunity to send someone to speak for the new offices.

BOSS leader John Grantham told the meeting that he still believed the Charles Street council offices, on which building work started in June, could be stopped.

He said: “The only way in which we can possibly challenge what is happening is through reason.

“People really believe what is happening is crazy and if it’s crazy why are we allowing this to happen?”

Mr Grantham said the BOSS group was championing a proposal put forward by former district architect David Oliver to build new offices to the rear of the council’s existing Stratton House site.

He said the council had failed to consider this alternative and had also failed to take into account the damaging impact the building of the new offices in Charles Street would have on local businesses.

The current work has resulted in the loss of 226 car parking spaces in the southern Charles Street car park and Mr Grantham claimed that phase two of the scheme, the retail phase, would result in the loss of a further 280 spaces in the northern car park for three years and one month.

Mr Grantham said: “Our feeling as a group is the council has looked too much at what it can save on its new offices and not looked out to the enormous effect that it can actually have on the community.”

District councillor Alistair Chisholm, who was voted on to the council in May after campaigning almost solely on his opposition to the Charles Street scheme, said he did not believe the new offices could now be stopped.

However, he said the campaign should still continue to call the council to account, so that it takes action to alleviate the damaging consequences on the local community.

Coun Chisholm said: “I don’t think we can stop the building, what we can do now and what John has done is identify that the council appears not to have looked at the consequences of their actions.

“They have this town and its business community with a degree of contempt.”

County town resident George Dean said: “The town centre is bleeding to death.

“The new council offices are not required”