HOUSING campaigners today hit back at councils over their fight against plans for more homes in Dorset.

The National Housing Federation (NHF) warned that the local authority attitudes will not help the homeless, overcrowded families or the housing market.

The blast came after councils condemned the number of new housing demanded by the Government in Dorset in the draft of the Regional Spatial Strategy.

Members of the Dorset County Council's cabinet were today expected to express their concerns about the housing allocations in the blueprint.

NHF head of south regions Simon Nunn said: "Council leaders in Dorset need to look longer-term and really come to terms with the housing problems in our region."

Bournemouth Borough Council, Dorset County Council and the Borough of Poole have expressed concerns about the proposed housing increases.

The NHF represents 200 independent, not-for-profit housing associations in the south-west, which own and manage more than 180,000 homes.

The body claims that house prices in Dorset in 2007 cost 15 times the average income in the county and that waiting lists for association homes have more than doubled in five years from 6,206 households in 2002 to 12,709 households last year.

The NHF claims that only 139 new social homes were built in Dorset last year and that one in 30 homes in the county is a second home.

Mr Nunn said: "West Dorset and North Dorset are among the most unaffordable places in the country to buy a home, according to Hometrack, and Purbeck and West Dorset are both in the top 20 locations in the country for second homes.

"Dorset's councillors have the opportunity to make some tough but vital longer-term decisions to ensure all their constituents have the possibility of a decent home in the future."