Dorset Council’s Tory majority will continue to accept the Government’s housing need figures for the county.

The question was raised after fears that the county is being forced to agree more housing schemes than it would like – including the 3,000-plus home proposal for Dorchester North.

Dorchester councillor Alistair Chisholm, who is opposing any large-scale development in or around Dorchester, has asked the Dorset Council to follow the lead of neighbouring Devon and challenge the Government’s calculations of housing need.

He told a meeting of the Dorset Council last Thursday evening that an independent report for Devon had concluded that the Government’s target numbers were hugely over-estimated.

“Most of the new homes were planned to be built on green field sites and, furthermore, two-thirds of Devon’s new housing will be bought by people moving into the county.  Government targets did little to address the real housing needs of the county yet the Housing minister avoided answering questions on this matter when he spoke at a housing seminar in Exeter in March 2019 to launch the report,” said Cllr Chisholm.

“What plans, if any, does this council have to question the unrevised housing numbers for Dorset proposed in 2014 by central Government?

“If, as seems increasingly likely, the numbers have not only been hugely over estimated but do little or nothing to address the real and urgent needs of our county for truly “affordable” homes, why should the council tax payers go along with/accept any Local Plan for Dorset which simply feeds the voracious appetite of developers and landowners and does little or nothing for either the county’s residents or its precious countryside?”

But planning brief holder Cllr David Walsh said the calculations from the Government “provide the starting point for identifying local housing need in a local plan.”

He warned that to argue the figures based only on local need or affordability was not likely to succeed: “As councils are required to plan for the needs of all sectors of the housing market, any arguments based around meeting the needs only for affordable housing, or only for the needs of the currently resident population, are not likely to succeed.

“Dorset also needs housing in order to support the local economy, as we need people to be able to move into the area to take up employment,” he said.