Covid appears not to have happened in the world of Dorset Council planning.

The claim comes from Dorchester town councillors who say the proposals currently being put forward for the revised local plan are the same as were presented four years ago by the former district council.

The plan seeks to guide development, both housing and commercial, in the area for the years ahead.

But town councillors say the plan review is persevering with the belief that in Dorchester shopping demand will continue to grow and that there will be an increase in the need for office space and car parking.

Town council planning chairman Cllr Robin Potter says he is disappointed that Dorset Council has 'cut and pasted' the previous policies which were already out of date when they were first made.

The town council also remains opposed to 4,000 homes being put forward for north of Dorchester, but will have that discussion at another meeting.

Included in the Dorset Council plans for Dorchester is further retail development on the Charles Street car park, an idea which has failed to get off the ground since the 1970s, and a park and ride on a site close to the Avenue football stadium.

Town councillors say both proposals were tried, and failed to get backers, when the economy was in better shape.

They are now calling for an overall review of the town's traffic management and parking policies, abandoning the park and ride proposals, looking again at what could be achieved on the prison site and investigating alternative sites for housing, other than Dorchester North. This could include land alongside the town's southern bypass.

Cllr Potter has urged Dorchester residents to look at the plan proposals and comment on them.

Independent councillor Les Fry said the last 12 months had seen massive changes in retail which the plan proposals did not reflect: "Instead of expansion we need to look at what we can protect," he told a town planning meeting.

Said Cllr Potter: "We need a fundamental review of this plan. What's there is not suitable for the future."

Cllr Molly Rennie said the new plan needed to reflect that more housing and leisure use in shopping areas might be the way ahead: "We need a new masterplan, including mixed use and leisure, something which will bring people into the town in the day and the evening as well."