RESIDENTS have expressed concerns about proposals for a traveller site in Swanage.

The site is outlined within the Dorset Council Local Plan, which is essentially a blueprint for preferred development within the county until 2038.

This local plan, currently under consultation until March 15, has already been criticised as 'inadequate' by the Dorset branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), who also say residents will not have time to read the 2,000 pages it contains before the March deadline.

As well as setting out preferred sites for almost 30,500 new homes to be built, the Dorset Council Local Plan outlines potential infrastructure projects, retail and employment sites.

But it is the section of the document focussing on gypsy and traveller sites that is causing concern in Swanage.

One of the potential sites is listed as land in the north of Swanage, at Washpond Lane and Ulwell Road.

One Swanage resident, who asked not to be named, said: "It is a worry for a small town like Swanage to have this sort of site planned.

"It has been causing concerns across the community."

Meanwhile, a Dorset Council spokesman said: "All the proposals in the plan have been put forward for consultation.

"Nothing is fixed and we want to hear everyone’s views.

"But all councils are required to make provision for traveller sites, in the same way that we are required to provide land for housing.

"As with housing, if we do not plan to meet these needs, our local plan will fail at examination, and we will be unable to defend less suitable sites on appeal.

"We put the proposed traveller sites all in one section in the plan so that people interested in this particular aspect could look at all the provision we were making, rather than have to look through every area chapter for them.

"We appreciate that there is no perfect answer to this and that other respondents would have preferred to see them in their area chapters, but we certainly had no intention of hiding them from anyone, as we need to have people’s comments on these alongside all the other proposals."

Visit www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/Dorset-Council-Local-Plan to take part in the consultation.