Local Plan Public Consultation – Colehill Town Council

Dorset Council are currently consulting on a new Local Plan for Dorset, which among other things identifies potential development sites for housing and employment.
Consultation materials are available online – https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/dorset-is-changing.
During September and October 2025 there were drop-in events held across the county.
Residents were encouraged to submit comments via an online survey or by email to: planningpolicyconsult@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk

Colehill Town Council’s General response to the Local Plan can be found here – General response text for Local Plan 20251006
and our response to the specific housing sites relevant to Colehill here – Response to Housing Sites in the Local Plan 20251004

Dorset Council have identified 13 housing sites within Colehill, 12 of which are on Green Belt land.
If these sites all proceed, then this would be 2,461 new homes, an 80% increase to the parish.
We have also identified 10 sites in Ferndown, Holt and Wimborne which are likely to impact on Colehill.
In our response to the 23 housing sites relevant to Colehill we’ve detailed our concerns which focus on issues with flooding, ecology, transport and heritage.
Although the Government have recently issued guidance on Green Belt which allows it to be released and developed in some circumstances, we do not think 10 of the sites qualify for release as they make a Strong contribution to Green Belt purpose b, as defined in the guidance.