LAND in countryside north of Dorchester will be needed for new homes when work at Poundbury comes to an end.

That’s the claim by former architect and Poundbury resident Daniel Silk who has identified possible sites at Lower Burton, Cokers Frome and Stinsford.

He is encouraging people to put their views on the Poundbury Community Forum website so that feedback can go on to planning authorities.

Mr Silk said: “Poundbury is going really well but it will be finished one day and Dorchester will still need more homes. We need to think where they would go.

“When you look at maps you can see the town is contained by the bypass to the south. But there could be places north of Dorchester that could be used for new houses.

“It would be interesting to get Dorchester people thinking about it and come up with ideas.”

Mr Silk, who manages the community website, said the bypass could be extended north of the town on a route that he suggested would encompass Stinsford, Cokers Frome and Lower Burton. It would run south of Charminster and connect into the A37 near Poundbury.

He said the road would ease traffic in the town and take traffic heading for the coast route to the north of Dorchester, relieving pressure from the system south of the county town where traffic headed down to Weymouth.

He added: “Within this new road three small village-style developments like Poundbury could be built giving homes to around 8,000 people. The housing needs of the town are still growing – people should think about how they would like to see Dorchester grow over the next 50 years or so.”

Mr Silk believes the sites would offer homes within reach of the town centre by bicycle and in pleasant settings.

He said: “People worry about building close to the River Frome but it’s possible to build further back. A lot of people need homes, there’s a shortage of affordable housing, particularly in this area. Poundbury has brought in a lot of people from outside the area – it hasn’t especially helped local people.”

Former chairman of Stinsford Parish Council Andrew Thompson said the area was sensitive to development as it contained listed buildings, Thomas Hardy’s birthplace cottage and it was a conservation area.

He said: “A survey was carried out three years ago for the parish plan and residents’ answer to a question about development in the area was that most would like to see small individual houses built in appropriate locations. They would welcome some affordable housing as long as it was sensitive to the location.”

Last autumn West Dorset District Council sent a robust response to the Regional Spatial Strategy rejecting proposals that included an urban extension of 3,000 homes for Dorchester as part of changes for the planning blueprint up to 2026. The council’s planning policy manager Hilary Jordan stated in a report that growth could only go on the north of Dorchester – and it could only be done with government funding for infrastructure including a £100million northern bypass.

The suggested sites for the Poundbury-type developments are outside the development boundary and would need major changes to planning policies to go ahead.

Poundbury development manager Simon Conibear said Poundbury was now nearing its halfway mark and building was expected to continue for 15 years.