Dorset Council Local Plan - scoping consultation 2026

Dorset’s functional areas

4.1.1.  The evidence suggests that there are four broad ‘functional areas’ that represent how Dorset’s housing and economic markets function:

• South Eastern area: Extending from the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) conurbation to the Isle of Purbeck and north towards Wiltshire. This area has the strongest links to BCP, particularly around Wimborne Minster and Ferndown, with influence reducing towards Blandford and Swanage.
• Central area: Focused on the Portland, Weymouth and Dorchester corridor and surrounding settlements. Weymouth, the largest town in Dorset council's area, has strong links with both Portland and Dorchester.
• Northern area: Centred on the strategic rail and road corridor between Yeovil and Salisbury, including the market towns of Gillingham, Shaftesbury and Sherborne.
• Western area: A largely rural and less well-connected part of Dorset, centred on Bridport and including Beaminster and Lyme Regis.

Figure 2: Dorset's functional areas

Settlement types

4.1.2.  Across the functional areas, Dorset is home to a mix of towns and villages which each play their part in meeting the needs of residents, workers, and visitors. Previous consultations have defined Dorset’s settlements through a hierarchy:

• Large built-up areas: This comprises the parts of the BCP conurbation that cross into Dorset, the county town of Dorchester, and the coastal town of Weymouth.
• Towns and other main settlements: This comprises the market and coastal towns across Dorset and ‘other main settlements’ within the Green Belt and close to the large built-up area of BCP.
• Larger villages: These are typically larger villages which generally have a population of around 500 and a reasonable level of facilities enabling some day-to-day needs to be met locally.
• Small villages and hamlets with less services and facilities for everyday needs to be met locally.

Requirements for spatial strategies

4.2.1.  National planning policy states that local plans should set out a positive vision and spatial strategy for the area, including specific proposals for meeting development needs and improving the local environment. A local plan’s spatial strategy should include clear expectations for the location of future development, and where land should be protected or enhanced. It should identify:

• settlements and their boundaries
• town centres, their boundaries, and other areas where specific approaches to development should apply
• land that is protected or enhanced for specific purposes
• sites allocated to meet housing and other development needs

National Decision-Making Policies

4.2.2.  National policy also includes decision making policies that generally support development within settlements while restricting development outside settlements to specific circumstances. In addition to this, several transport-related policies within the NPPF require decisions to consider whether development is located in sustainable locations and are aligned with planned transport infrastructure, reflecting the spatial strategy's role in directing growth to appropriate locations.

4.3.1.  To deliver homes, employment development and infrastructure, it is likely that growth would need to take place at a range of different sizes and types of settlement across Dorset.

New development near settlements and existing built-up areas

4.3.2.  New development is often most sustainable when located near to existing built-up areas of towns and main settlements, where there is better access to services, infrastructure, employment opportunities and sustainable transport options. Larger villages can also provide day-to-day facilities to support development, while growth can help maintain and enhance the services and facilities on which these communities rely. Directing development to settlements of different sizes therefore has the potential to support both new and existing communities across Dorset.

Development needs and sustainable development outcomes

4.3.3.  However, the local plan needs to strike an appropriate balance between meeting development needs and achieving sustainable development in economic, social and environmental terms. This includes protecting Dorset's valued environment, particularly its National Landscapes, heritage assets, and designated ecological and habitat sites. The spatial strategy will therefore need to reflect the local plan’s overarching vision and objectives for Dorset.

Development in villages

4.3.4.  As discussed above, previous local plans have defined and ranked settlements into tiers based on population and the range of facilities and services available. While large built-up areas (Tier 1) and towns and main settlements (Tier 2) are generally the most sustainable locations for development, larger villages have previously been identified using a broad threshold of over 500 residents and a range of key facilities or services, such as:

• a school
• a shop
• a village hall or community meeting place
• employment space
• a doctor's surgery

4.3.5.  The sustainability of potential development locations also depends on access to services less commonly found in villages, including secondary schools, supermarkets, hospitals and a wider range of employment opportunities. Villages that are well connected to larger towns by walking, cycling or public transport may therefore represent more sustainable locations for growth than more isolated settlements. These considerations will inform the development of the plan’s spatial strategy.  

Flexibility for smaller scales of development

4.3.6.  As part of the spatial strategy, there may be an opportunity to boost the supply of new homes in Dorset by allowing flexibility for smaller scales of development to take place adjacent to sustainable settlements (without specifically identifying them in the local plan). In doing this, the council would need to consider whether this approach would be in accordance with national policy, what specific criteria would be appropriate, and how the council could predict how much future development could come forward though this type of policy.