Poundbury has been highlighted for its pedestrian and public transport links and not being as 'car-based' as other developments across the country.

In a report by Transport for New Homes, 'Building Car Dependency', Poundbury was one of just two areas that were found to have good links - public transport and walking - to an urban area, and being a more "visionary" development.

Researchers visited 20 different developments in towns and the countryside and found that those on brownfield sites in cities were more suitable for people to walk, cycle or use public transport, whereas at large greenfield sites, residents needed a car.

The report stated: "With the exception of Hampton Park, Poundbury and Derwenthorpe, the design and layout of the greenfield housing that we visited anticipated that residents would drive for nearly every journey they made."

It also highlighted that those developments that were more 'car-based' had a negative impact on its town centres, showing Poundbury had great links to the rest of Dorchester.

The report added: "Apart from our 'exception' greenfield sites - notably Poundbury and Derwenthorpe - we saw greenfield housing disconnected from the urban area rather than being connected to it by continuous and overlooked streets.

"Despite having large greenfield housing sites on their fringes, the less affluent town centres had empty shops and businesses with comparatively few people visiting. We realised that these places had begun to replicate the car-based lifestyle seen out of town, with sections of inner ring road directing cars to large supermarkets, retail and popular eateries all with ample car parking."

The report summarises that Poundbury is one of the more "visionary" developments.

"Large-scale greenfield housing usually ends up being almost completely car-based. There are exceptions to the rule but these are rare and require that the land-owner and its partners building the development are strongly motivated to construct the place according to an entirely different model. Poundbury in Dorset and Derwenthorpe near York were in this more visionary category."

You can read the report here.

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