COUNCILLORS have been given a positive update about the local plan for West Dorset, Weymouth and Portland.

A full meeting of West Dorset District Council was told that no major additional housing allocations would be required to be added to the plan and it could be adopted by September.

Cllr Sarah East, the council’s member champion for planning, gave her fellow councillors the update on progress of the plan.

A public enquiry was held last year after the housing allocations in the original plan were questioned.

This led to a lengthy delay in the plan coming forward as inspector Paul Crysell raised a number of questions about the housing projections.

Further work was carried out by the council and it now appears to have satisfied the inspector that there is sufficient land supply already allocated in the plan to cater for the number of homes required.

However, Cllr East said that feedback from the inspector suggested that an increase from 14,040 units to 16,387 could now be achieved without any further allocation of land.

She said: “The answer has been rather helpful and said we had been rather cautious in the assumptions we have made about housing land coming forward.”

Cllr East said that ‘fine tuning’ of the housing supply figures and including smaller sites that are coming forward had now enabled the authority to meet the housing supply to cover the plan period until 2031.

A number of sites were included during the first stages of the local plan process, such as a site to the south east of Dorchester that was earmarked for 1,000 homes, but were later withdrawn in the face of public opposition.

The fact that the inspector is now satisfied with the land allocations as the plan now stands means there is no longer any threat that these sites will be re-considered and also means no new sites will be put forward for housing.

Cllr East said: “I think that’s positive news.”

She added that, while the plan would not be approved before then general election in May, it was hoped that it would be finalised later this year.

Cllr East said: “It looks as if we will be able to get it through by September.”