Another council is opposing plans for 3,500 new homes north of Dorchester.

Stinsford Parish Council has added its voice to Dorchester Town Council, the protest group STAND and West Dorset MP Chris Loder in opposing the development being put forward by Dorset Council.

It is demanding that the consultation process, which it says is flawed, should be repeated instead of ending on March 15.

The parish says the majority of the land for the new homes falls within its area.

A statement from the parish says the Dorset Council Local Plan review proposals suffer 'serious deficiencies' in its evidence base making it all but impossible for residents to enter into an informed and meaningful consultation.

It says that what data there is not being presented in an accessible form and claims there are over 30 gaps in the council's evidence base.

"Community engagement is about building capacity so as to allow for meaningful contribution. It is difficult to see how Dorset Council has done this. Dorset Council has at best carried out a consultation; at worst instructed residents that this is what is going to happen," said the parish council.

It suggests that the unitary council might not have considered the consultation process well enough to avoid a legal challenge.

"The difficulties created by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the way in which consultation can take place is acknowledged but this should not be used as an excuse to reduce accessible and meaningful engagement with all residents of Dorset and stakeholder groups and organisations."

Parish councils are also critical of economic proposals in the local plan review, claiming they are based on pre-pandemic thinking.

On Dorchester North, which the parish council unanimously opposes, it says: "We believe that Dorset Council needs to provide more evidence to justify why Dorchester needs to grow so dramatically and this number of homes not spread more evenly across the Council's area…the parish council doubts whether Dorchester or Stinsford need this amount of extra housing based on employment within the current wider context. Dorchester has already seen significant development at Poundbury."

It also points out that more housing is unlikely to mean more affordable housing: "As we have seen at Poundbury and other developments in Dorchester, building more homes has not reduced house prices. Housing should be provided on a basis of need rather than as an investment priority."