Dorset Council and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council have prepared a Strategic Green Belt Review of the South East Dorset Green Belt. The councils needed to undertake the review because a significant proportion of South East Dorset, and the countryside around Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, is designated as part of this Green Belt. Both councils are obliged to take account of the Green Belt when preparing their new local plans.
Dorset Council’s draft development strategy for meeting Dorset’s needs for new homes and employment land, as presented in the consultation draft of the Dorset Council Local Plan, specifically takes Green Belt into consideration, along with:
the role of Dorset’s four functional areas;
the role of settlements within these areas;
environmental constraints; and
the need to encourage sustainable patterns of growth and land supply.
Since the last assessment was published in 2021 the NPPF has updated the approach to assessing green belt and introduced the concept of grey belt. The contribution of parcels to the green belt purposes is considered along with the potential harm to the parcels if it were to be developed. The revised assessment methodology is set out in the report.
Dorset and BCP Green Belt Assessment - November 2026 (PDF, 33MB)
