Building Better Lives

Where you live can really affect your health and wellbeing, but there's a financial cost too. In England alone, it’s estimated that poor quality housing costs the NHS £1.4 billion a year.

We live in a beautiful part of the country, and many people choose to retire here. We have an increasing ageing population and with people living longer, more of us need help as we get older. More than 4500 adults use our social care services, and there are currently over 7000 people living with dementia and that number will increase.

That’s why here at Dorset Council, we’re thinking differently about how to use some of the land we own. Rather than sell off the land to big developers who may put unaffordable properties not suitable for the local communities there, we’re developing new accommodation and services in Dorset through a programme called Building Better Lives.

Valued at £165M, it joins up health and social care in the county and provides good quality housing and care options for the people who really need it. It gives people more choice over where they live and helps them to achieve what’s best for them.

There are schemes being thought through across the county, and we truly believe that this is an affordable and sustainable way of making sure local people get the right services and housing in the right places.

Take a look at our asset strategy which was put together by the former Dorset County Council. We're in the process of refreshing this document to reflect current research findings.