A plea for Dorchester Town Council to co-ordinate opposition to plans for up to 4,000 homes north of the town has met with a cautious response.

The council said it would be "unwise" to take on that role at this moment – until more details on the full extent of new proposals for what has become known locally as 'Norchester' have been released.

One councillor claims the developers are "playing games" with the town over the application, hoping to gradually wear the protestors down and to soften opposition by engaging in a public relations war with slick news releases portraying the development as a rural paradise.

One protestor accused the press of "lazy journalism" for recently printing a release from the developers without challenging any of the claims made in it.

"It just went in un-altered, aren't there any journalists capable of questioning what they have been sent anymore?" said Linda Paulson.

Charminster councillor David Taylor told the town council that he was "fuming" over a meeting held in his ward about the development proposals without inviting him, or notification, that it was taking place.

Although the town council has voted, unanimously, to oppose any large housing development north of the town, several responded to a plea for help from the STAND protest group by saying now was not the time to launch into action.

Group chair Jane Ashdown used the public session of the town council meeting to ask the authority to step in and co-ordinate parish councils surrounding the site in their opposition and to provide what she described as "appropriate leadership" over the issue.

She also suggested that the town council might like to consider a budget to take on specialist consultants, likely to be needed in 2025, to advise on its stance over the development proposals.

Town councillors said there were several issues with the request – including the fact that none of the development site is in Dorchester, all of it falling within surrounding parish boundaries, and that to take a position prior to new proposals being revealed could be seen as "pre-determination", undermining the council's ultimate position.

Cllr David Taylor said there appeared to be a belief that the application had disappeared, but the reality was that a new consortium was now in place, backed by house-building giants Persimmon.

"It's still very much alive. We just need to be careful it doesn't happen," he said.

Cllr Fiona Kent-Ledger argued that the town council would be unwise to do anything until there was a new planning application to look at for fear of being accused of taking a stance before studying the facts – a view shared by the town's planning and environment committee chairman Ralph Ricardo.

"We have to be seen to be objective…there are a lot of unknown elements at this stage" he said.

Cllr Molly Rennie said the delays and changes were "all part of the process of wearing us down… they're playing with us," she claimed.

Said Cllr Les Fry: "We can't discuss what we don't know – we just have to be patient."

Cllr Susie Hosford suggested the town council's best tactic at the moment was to continue to resist the allocation of the site for housing in the revised Local Plan, due to be published by Dorset Council in 2026.