DORSET Council is not trying hard enough to have a meaningful consultation over the new Local Plan, according to a Dorchester councillor.

Town councillor Gareth Jones told a planning committee meeting that he could not understand why the unitary council was unable to organise public exhibitions and talk face to face to residents – if other organisations were managing it.

“Dorset Council is just not trying hard enough…they could easily organise a public exhibition with social distancing,” he told a town council planning meeting.

Mr Jones said that if the Shire Hall was able to open to the public and various Christmas markets were being held he saw no reason why Dorset Council was only able to hold its consultation on the revised plan via the internet.

Fellow town councillor Alistair Chisholm called for the Dorset Council’s consultation process to be independently assessed.

He said people were suspicious when the council’s own proposals and people’s reactions to them were being judged by the authority itself.

“I would like Dorset Council to employ an independent expert to check the efficiency of this consultation…many people are turned off by it, they don’t believe Dorset Council will listen. We need to assure ourselves that this exercise is sincere and meaningful,” he said.

Other councillors expressed concerns about residents who did not have computers, or were not familiar with being consulted online.

Cllr Janet Hewitt said a means should be worked out where those without the skills could be helped.

“We should do all we can to help people who are nervous about being involved in the consultation…we have got to encourage people to sit up and take notice,” she said.

In a separate meeting, the following day, Dorset Council’s portfolio holder for planning, Cllr David Walsh, said that Covid rules made it almost impossible to safely have face to face meetings but said the authority was doing all it could to widen awareness – including holding online meetings with town and parish councils and other groups.

He said printed copies of the proposals were expensive to produce but a limited number would be available in libraries for loan, although each copy would have to be quarantined for a period, between each use.

“This is a critical stage of the consultation and the council can make as many changes as necessary….nothing is set in stone,” he said, asking residents not just to comment on their local area, but the whole of the plan, its approaches and strategies.

He said that without a Local Plan in place the council was unlikely to be able to resist developments it did not want and could end up, as other areas had, with ‘planning by appeal,’ where schemes are submitted, rejected and then approved by a planning inspector.

“I know it’s a big document but I hope people go all the way through it..It is important everyone is part of this consultation,” he said.

The eight week public consultation on the plan will start in mid-January with copies of the document, which runs to more than 600 pages, available now on the Dorset Council website.