WITH just days to the end of a public consultation on a key document which will shape the future of West Dorset and Weymouth and Portland – less than one per cent of the population has responded.

The low rate of comment comes despite public meetings, roadshows across the district, news releases from the borough and district councils and widespread coverage in local media.

By Tuesday of this week with less than a week to the deadline, fewer than 500 had responded to the preferred development options put forward in the review of the area’s Local Plan which guides development across the borough council and district council areas until 2036.

It includes controversial proposals for more than 3,000 homes north of Dorchester and thousands of extra homes and businesses proposed for Littlemoor, Chickerell and parts of Weymouth.

A council spokesman said that the deadline for submitting responses remains at midnight on October 8th with no plans to extend the deadline.

He said that on October 2 there had been a total of just 348 submissions, of these 127 were submitted using the online form and 221 via email or on paper.

The consultation started in August and continued throughout the summer although the Echo and other media which use the Local Democracy Reporting service had published the key proposals of the revised plan in the first week of June and carried a number of other stories about the process throughout that month and during July.

This week some members of Dorchester town council planning committee were critical of the consultation being held throughout the summer, when many people are on holiday. Cllr Tim Harries said that even eight weeks into the process there were still people completely unaware of the exercise.

At Crossways none of the councillors attending a parish meeting last week had responded to the consultation at the time although Cllr David Harris commented: “It’s ridiculous. They lead you to the answer they want you to give.”

The parish clerk, Emma Selway reported that she had tried to respond and had taken more than half a day to make her comments. She suggested at the meeting that many people might be put off my the process and need help to make their comments.

“I have responded to the local plan and it is not difficult, but it is long winded and complex. Each question has to be answered with a separate online submission with a maximum of 1,000 characters if your answer is longer you can submit a separate document with an explanation of what the document is. Each document or answer must identify the proposal (DOR15 for example) and the question number being answered,” she said.

'I gave up trying'

Weymouth Civic Society member Dr Keith Holdaway said he had been deterred by the process and finally gave up:

“I have tried to engage with the consultation process but I have been put off by the basis of a plan-led process of planning….and the sheer length of the document. It is verbose and boring eg “1.4.1 Local plans must be prepared with the objective of contributing to the achievement of sustainable development” means Local plans must require sustainable development. Every paragraph is padded with all this verbiage.

“All comments must relate to a specific question asked in the plan review, this control by the authors may be convenient to them but is fundamentally undemocratic.

“I gave up.”

A council spokesman said that they had no reported problems with the process. The combined councils have offered help to those who need it and have said that written or emailed comments are as acceptable as comments made online.

Have your say on the proposals using the online consultation form on dorsetforyou.com

Alternatively, paper forms are also available from the district and borough council offices.