Protest through Dorchester opposing development of 4,000 new homes on 'historic landscape'

Campaign group Save The Area North of Dorchester (STAND) organised the march through the town centre with placards, banners and flags to express opposition to the plans to build around 4,000 houses on the historic land. The proposal is contained in Dorset's Local Plan.

To view all the images from the protest march in Dorchester on Saturday, click on the interactive gallery above

Spearheading the campaign, STAND member Linda Poulsen said Saturday's march, which started at Maumbury Rings, was about highlighting issues of concern including the threat to the town’s cultural legacy.

Spearheading the campaign, STAND member Linda Poulsen. Picture: Sam McKeown

She said: "It's a group that wants to highlight the need for houses in the right place."

The STAND group has said that the land, that developers plan to build the homes on, is an area which inspired much of the work by writer and poet Thomas Hardy.

Ms Poulsen added: "There's no doubt that there is a housing issue, but we feel these homes being built on historic land will not be sustainable due to the fact they'll be built in an inappropriate area.

"Archaeologically, experts have suggested the landscape north of Dorchester is as historically on par with Stonehenge - and that's what could be destroyed.

"It will create more pollution to the area as there will be thousands of cars added to the traffic around the town.

"We are fighting such overwhelming odds, but we want to overhaul this development system that is currently in place."

The demonstration included the rural tradition of a 'Skimmity Ride' to draw attention to Dorset Council’s plans to 'desecrate' the very countryside which inspired much of Hardy’s writing.

Sometimes referred to as a Skimmington Ride, this tradition was intended to heap shame on miscreants with effigies of the culprits strapped to a donkey and paraded through a community.

Effigies of a property developer and a town planner featured in Saturday’s march.

The Dorchester North extension has been put forward as a 'preferred option' for housing in Dorset Council's Local Plan, which was previously out for consultation.

Last year, campaign group STAND organised a petition to show the strength of feeling against the plans to build the homes in countryside between Charminster and Stinsford, which garnished more than 5,000 signatures.

Jane Ashdown, who chairs the group, said: "These fields are the green lungs of Dorchester. The landscape is of huge historical, environmental, and cultural significance. Dorset Council needs to rethink the Local Plan so that it gives us the homes we need rather than chasing government housing targets."

A Dorset Council spokesman said: "We're taking into account all the comments submitted into last year’s Draft Dorset Council Local Plan consultation including the petition from STAND."

The plan will be published in May 2022, with the opportunity for people to make comments.