West Dorset MP Chris Loder has hailed a "major step forward" as the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has allocated Dorset Council £135,000 to rewrite the local plan.

It comes just weeks after the MP met with levelling up secretary Michael Gove in Dorchester, in which Mr Loder expressed "the urgent need for Government support to rework the local plan to shelve the controversial 4,000 home development on the land north of the county town".

Mr Loder said: "This support is a much-needed endorsement from the Government of my campaign against 'Norchester' and will mean we are one big step closer to achieving a local plan that really addresses the planning needs of Dorchester and West Dorset and protects our most beautiful countryside."

The cash injection will act as a project management resource to support planning policy allocation in the local plan for the garden village and associated technical studies, design input and community engagement.