Dorset Council has apologised for a statement which said that controversial proposals for 4,000 homes north of Dorchester were already part of the Local Plan.

The authority said that the statement was incorrect, with no decisions yet made about the future of the land.

The statement was issued to the media by Gillingham councillor David Walsh, portfolio holder for planning.

In it he said: "The North Dorchester Garden Community development is already part of the adopted West Dorset, Weymouth and Portland Local Plan and is part of the future of Dorset."

In response to a question over the claim, Dorset Council issued a statement to the BBC's Local Democracy Reporting Service this week, saying: "This was incorrect. The site is not included in the adopted West Dorset, Weymouth & Portland Local Plan, and no decisions have been made yet about any of the sites to be included in the emerging Dorset Council Local Plan. Dorset Council apologises for this error and any subsequent confusion caused."

The claim by Cllr Walsh, first reported in the West Dorset Magazine, was rejected by Alastair Nisbet, a leading member of the campaign group STAND (Save the Area North of Dorchester). 

Mr Nisbet said: "Cllr Walsh is plain wrong. He is misleading the people of Dorchester by suggesting that the development has already been approved. In fact, whenever people have been asked about the proposal they've given it a resounding thumbs down."

In a related development, STAND is also calling on the council to explain why it has met with representatives of the development company, and their supporters, on no fewer than 19 occasions. 

The fact was disclosed in a formal answer to a Freedom of Information Request. The group said that, by contrast, the council's planners had met opponents of the plan on only nine occasions.

STAND say that there is widespread local opposition to the homes proposal for farmland and water meadows north of the county town –nicknamed 'Norchester' – with petitions, protests and marches all being held in recent years to demonstrate the level of discontent about the suggestion that it should be earmarked for housing in the revised Local Plan, currently under consideration.

Among those opposing the idea is Dorchester Town Council and local community groups.

West Dorset MP Chris Loder has also gone on record saying that he, too, is unhappy with the idea, and in May 2022 he met with the then Housing Minister, Michael Gove, to explain why there should be a re-think on the proposals.

Mr Loder said at the time that he would like to see the Local Plan focus more on delivering for the needs of West Dorset communities, rather than just a few enormous housing developments, to avoid it "hoovering economic life out of small villages".

He told Mr Gove there should be more community housing and/or Community Land Trust initiatives to ensure local housing for local people.

"My intervention with the Minister has highlighted the need to change the way in which the Local Plan is constructed that will better match the supply of housing with the demand," he said.

The initial consultation on the draft Dorset Local Plan ended in March 2021 with 9,000 responses, many objecting to building on Dorset's open countryside.

Last week Cllr Walsh, backed by council leader Cllr Spencer Flower, denied that there had been a "delay" in preparing the emerging Dorset Local Plan.

Cllr David Tooke had asked at a Scrutiny Committee meeting what the cost of the delay was, in terms of officer time, given that the revised plan preparation had been expected to have been concluding at this time.

Said Cllr Walsh: "There is no delay – it's the earliest we can deliver it, in spring 2026, with all the other things we've got to do… That is the earliest it can be done. I don't want the word 'delay' used, because there isn't a delay."