The planning application for the new West Dorset District Council Offices has finally been lodged with the Council. The next step is for the Council to decide whether to grant itself planning consent for its new offices. Yes, really!

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West Dorset District Council Offices

There has been a huge demand for a repeat of the public consultation opportunity which Dr Sue Farrant provided in Dorchester on 24 March.

She has now ararnged another meeting to be held in Bridport Town Hall on Monday 19 April starting at 6.30 pm.

This will give people an opportunity to ask questions about the Council’s scheme and to air their views.

Sue Farrant has invited Cllr Robert Gould, Leader of WDDC and prime mover of the scheme and Oliver Letwin MP.

“I think it is important that they both hear what people have to say about this,” she said. “Both Mr Letwin and Cllr Gould are supporting the proposal to build new offices and are claiming that it will save money in the long run. The response from the first meeting made it clear that council tax payers are not at all convinced!”

All are welcome at the meeting.

Residents of Dochester have demanded a Town Poll on the District Council’s intention to build new offices. All electors in the town will have a vote and the Poll will be held on Thursday 22 April between 4 pm and  9pm.

Conservative-run West Dorset District Council says it has consulted everyone about plans to build itself new Council offices.

Strange then that the public meeting organised by Dr Sue Farrant, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, was packed out with hundreds of people wanting to know more and to have their say.

The Council also says that it has public support for their multi-million pound scheme. Their plan is to move out of historic Stratton House in Dorchester and into specially-built offices off Charles Street. A senior Council officer recently said the cost could be £15 million although the Council’s official figure is £10.5 million.

The meeting on 24 March heard the WDDC’s financial case for the move pulled apart by a series of speakers. They included a previous WDDC architect who told the meeting that it was perfectly possible and a great deal cheaper to adapt Stratton House to meet the Council’s needs.

In final show of hands, not a single person there agreed with the Council’s plans.

The prime movers of the scheme, Councillor Robert Gould, the Council’s Leader, and the Chief Executive, had refused to come to the meeting to answer people’s questions, despite repeated invitations from Sue Farrant.

Sue Farrant has now written to Cllr Gould telling him that he does not have public support for building new Council offices at public expense. She has called on him to abandon it now rather than waste even more public money on trying to push the scheme through.

Tree planting in Dorchester

Sue Farrant supports Dorchester and Weymouth Greenpeace as they plant a Cox’s Orange Pippin alongside the allotments at Riverside Walk. The Dorchester tree is twinned with one at Sipson, birthplace of the Cox’s Orange Pippin and now the proposed site for the Heathrow third runway. Sue has become one of 60,000 beneficial owners of ‘Airplot’ a parcel of land at Sipson ow planted with trees as a symbol of opposition to the runway.

Local campaigners highlight their access issue to Dr Sue Farrant

Dr Sue Farrant, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for West Dorset, visited Poundbury and Maiden Castle at the invitation of the Poundbury Rural Access Campaign headed by Peter Evans. Mr Evans explained that the Duchy of Cornwall’s plans for the further development of Poundbury did not include the rural access to Maiden Castle under the Dorchester bypass envisaged in the 2006 Poundbury Development Brief. Instead the Duchy were proposing a convoluted route alongside the bypass to an existing footpath to the north west of Maiden Castle or funnelling residents along the inside of the bypass to Maiden Castle Road.

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Dorchester's New Chairman David Taylor

Dear all Lib Democrat Supporters’

Well, a Happy New Year and decade – this looks to be a good time for us all.

This news letter is by way of introducing myself, David Taylor, as your new chairman for the Liberal Democrats Group  for Dorchester and surrounding areas.

I was born in Sherborne, Dorset and now live and work in Dorchester.

My main objective is to rally and steer all  our teams and colleagues together  so that we can collectively get Dr Sue Farrant elected as our MP for West Dorset into Parliament at the next general election.

A key date for our diaries is Saturday Jan 23rd when we’re meeting in the morning to discuss “How to Win the General Election” and in the afternoon we’ll be undertaking residents surveys all across the town.

Recently I went into the Tom Browns pub and asked the Landlord Jamie Pinnow, if he would mind if we could meet up on the first Wednesday  of each month so we  could have a social chat be it very informal.  He was delighted and hence our great saying “we birds of a feather can now flock together” first meeting  Wed 3^rd Feb @ 7.00pm all welcome I will be there.

If anyone would like to contact me by E-Mail the address is

david@dorchester63.freeserve.co.uk

Tel 01305 263382

Once again Happy New Year 2010.

Regards David Taylor

Dorchester Skatepark

Supporting and working with Dorchester’s young people has been a major priority of local Lib Dem Councillors in recent years. This year has seen the culmination of several projects including:

• the Skate Park, which seems to have been used virtually 24 hours a day every day of the week since it opened!;
• new Youth Shelters at Kings Road playing fields and on the Great Field at Poundbury;
• extended hard surface for basketball and football also at Kings Road and;
• new play equipment for disabled children at Sandringham.

In addition a new climbing/activity centre for teenagers has been ordered for Kings Road. Plans are also well advanced for hard surface basketball and football on the Great Field together with a circuit for BMX bikers.

Lib Dem campaigners Sue Farrant, Cllr Tim Harries, Cllr Robin Potter and Cllr Susie Hosford at the Charles Street site.

At West Dorset’s Council meeting on 16 July, the Conservatives over-rode Liberal Democrat objections and agreed to spend more than £12 million on new offices in Charles Street, Dorchester. Dr Sue Farrant, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for West Dorset believes that the public should be asked for their opinion on the whole idea.

“The Conservatives have never asked the people of West Dorset if they want millions of pounds of their hard-earned money to be used on building new District Council offices. It’s not too late for the Council to pause and give the public time to have their say, but they are refusing. I’m calling on every council tax payer in West Dorset to contact us and tell us what you think.”

You can contact the Liberal Democrat team on 01935 815947 or email Sue directly.

Cllr Richard Biggs

Cllr Trevor Jones

Cllr Karl Wallace

West Dorset’s Liberal Democrats are celebrating after the County Council election results. In many other places, including neighbouring Devon, Cornwall and Hampshire, the Conservatives have gained from the volatile national situation and the collapse of the Labour party. Here West Dorset we have won three County Council seats and made the Conservatives fight hard for every vote in the other divisions.

We have strengthened our position and are ready for the general election campaign that must come within the next eleven months.

Congratulations to:

• Councillor Richard Biggs and Councillor Trevor Jones who beat off stiff opposition to retain their Dorchester seats
• Councillor Karl Wallace who won Bridport from the Conservatives in a tremendous victory.

The full results are available at the Dorset County Council web site.