PROPOSALS for the future of Dorset's housing market need 'radical alteration', a report has warned.

The Dorset County Council document highlights concerns over the county's ability to support new developments without first improving its infrastructure and roads.

It was written in response to the Government's draft regional spatial strategy (dRSS) for the county, setting out which areas could be developed in the future.

The council's director for environment, Miles Butler, writes that the spatial strategy could include a proposal for a second urban extension of around 3,000 homes outside Dorchester.

The council report also notes that references in early dRSS drafts to a 'requirement' for new homes in Chickerell had disappeared.

Mr Butler writes that the council is still proposing an urban extension of 700 properties for the area and that the council recommends adding 'more emphasis' on the importance of town centres in the dRSS.

Mr Butler writes that proposals for additional housing would account for a 31 per cent increase in Dorchester and Weymouth's housing market if adopted.

The council report states that the draft strategy makes 'no provision' for the phasing of development and that this has led to a 'number of practical concerns'.

These include the impact that implementing the current proposed strategy would have on the A31 and where the funding to improve infrastructure would come from.

The report states: "There have been long-standing concerns that the dRSS does not make adequate provision for infrastructure to support development." It adds that the Government's current failure to 'take forward' proposed infrastructure improvements for Dorchester and Weymouth 'further fuels this concern'.

The report said Government predictions of a 3.2 per cent increase in the county's production of goods and services (GVA - Gross Value Added) would 'not be achievable' in Dorset.

The report adds: "It therefore seems perverse to predicate levels of development on this basis."

Mr Butler prefaces his report by saying that the changes he proposes 'comprise a radical alteration to the dRSS'.

The report also highlights issues identified by the county council and Bournemouth and Poole's unitary authorities.

The report will be discussed by the county council's cabinet at a meeting being held in County Hall, Dorchester, tomorrow.