Additional west Dorset housing sites around Bridport could spark "big demonstration"

Proposed sites include Happy Island Way, land east of Lee Lane, north of Bradpole and Walditch, west of Allington, east of West Bay, north of Townsend Way and west of Pymore.

He said: “If you said I was outraged you’d be quite correct.”

He said Happy Island Way was ‘sacrosanct’ .

“We could get a big demonstration against that - that has been very sacrosanct.”

He said other sites demonstrated ‘ignorance’, being on exposed hilltops and others that would add to traffic congestion on already challenging routes.

The local plan inspector suggested a review in the light of the need for a total of 15,500 new homes over the plan period. The review consultation says: “The delivery of this level of housing growth will support the local economy helping to generate around 13,000 jobs. However, within the local plan provision is only made for 14,855 new homes. This shortfall in provision is one of the reasons why the inspector considered it necessary to undertake a review of the local plan.

“The councils need to identify sufficient land to accommodate at least a further 4,520 homes by 2036. This is in addition to the land for 14,855 new homes already identified in the adopted local plan.

“Councils are well aware of the importance of protecting designated landscape but face the difficult problem of balancing such concerns with the need to provide homes and jobs to meet future needs. The inspector recognised that in order to achieve this and adhere to sustainable development principles it is inevitable that some areas in the AONB will be affected.”

At the recent Dorset Campaign for the Protection of Rural England agm chief executive Shaun Spiers warned that unrealistic housing targets will fail to meet communities’ needs and result in preventable loss of countryside.