Hundreds protest at housing plans

Hundreds of people gathered to protest in Bournemouth on Sunday

Hundreds of people have held a protest over the prospect of thousands of new homes being built in Dorset.

The government wants to build 48,100 new homes in south-east Dorset by 2026, including a new town at Lytchett Minster and 7,250 houses around Poole.

But protestors, who gathered in Bournemouth on Sunday, said it would eat into greenbelt land in the area and lead to "urban sprawl".

The government has said greenbelt land has grown over the past 10 years.

Brian Lane, of Keep Corfe Mullen Green, said: "This [protest] is to protect our green belt, which is there to stop urban sprawl. The proposals from the current government will not stop urban sprawl.

"It's wholly immoral."

The [green] belts are being run down until we have an urban sprawl Sheila Bourton, Keep Wimborne Green

Sheila Bourton, of Keep Wimborne Green, was protesting at plans to build 800 homes in Wimborne.

She added: "The [green] belts are being run down until we have an urban sprawl."

The protest was co-organised by the Dorset branch of the Campaign for the Preservation of Rural England (CPRE).

South West England has been named the most unaffordable place to live in England in terms of house prices relative to average income.

Last year Poole in Dorset was singled out by the National Housing Federation as the most unaffordable town in the UK.

Annette Brooke, MP for Mid-Dorset and Poole North, addressed the rally.

"You cannot build your way out of a crisis, you need local decision-making," she said.

"We need the right sort of homes, not executive homes that will draw people into the area or more second homes.

"We need appropriate housing provided by housing associations."

Nick King, the prospective Conservative candidate for Mid-Dorset and Poole North, said the government was forcing an "enormous" amount of housing on the area that local councils did not want.

"Local people should be deciding how many, where and what type [of housing]," he added.

"At the moment the government plans are just a charter for developers."