AS READERS will know there has been widespread opposition to the proposed ‘Norchester’ development.

In the aftermath of the Covid-19 crisis there is an urgent need for Dorset Council to reconsider this plan to put 3,500 dwellings on agricultural land north of the River Frome.

The implications on water quality in the Frome catchment, the quality of air in central Dorchester and the loss of good agricultural land seem to have been simply glossed over to meet centrally imposed targets on house building.

If the recent epidemic has taught us anything, it is the need for this country to be as self-sufficient as possible, whether that is in the manufacturing of PPE, or growing our own food.

The post Covid-19 world will be different and as John Maynard Keynes famously said, ‘When the facts change, I change my mind’. Dorset Council should follow his advice.

This development will be incorporated into the council Strategic Plan unless it is voted down by councillors. Readers must write to their councillors and MPs to stop this once and for all.

Stewart Palmer

Ladock Green

Poundbury

Dorchester