Dorset National and Marine Park

The Dorset National & Marine Park Team is pleased to provide an input to the Big Conversation on Dorset Council’s draft 5 year Plan. We welcome the council consulting communities and organisations on its proposed strategic priorities for the area.

We encourage the Council to consider the case for the proposed Dorset National & Marine Park (DNMP) which would be a close partner, asset and agency for the Dorset Council. It would bring additional resources and expertise, and work in close partnership with the Council, communities, businesses and other stakeholders to help deliver the Council’s strategy for everyone in Dorset. For example, a DNMP would bring additional resources for the environment, climate and nature, for planning, transport, tourism infrastructure etc, which would enable DC funds to be allocated for other priorities. With a DNMP, Dorset Council and the DNMP could together agree a joint Local Plan and housing numbers appropriate for Dorset, which could be delivered through a joint planning team under the aegis of Dorset Council.

Examples of how the DNMP would work with and help the Dorset Council and its partners to deliver the Council’s priorities are as follows:

• Support communities and local services. A DNMP would bring additional resources to support communities and a range of public services, including public transport, and community health. The Dartmoor National Park has 17 times per hectare the level of central Government funding than the Dorset National Landscape while the New Forest has 24 times the funding. A DNMP would help protect, promote and fund the environment, green spaces, Dorset’s cultural heritage, and various activities which relate to these, making a vital contribution to communities’ mental and physical health and wellbeing with consequential savings to Dorset’s social care and health budgets.
• Provide high quality housing. A DNMP would help secure the truly affordable homes for local people that communities need. National Parks have a duty to “respond proactively to local housing needs.” Dorset needs the right houses in the right places, delivered through a Local Plan appropriate for Dorset. A DNMP can help the Council achieve this, and secure homes of appropriate tenure and quality to meet local needs (including more truly affordable homes, and homes with solar panels and good insulation), in the interests of sustainable communities, environment, economy and climate.

• Grow a thriving, sustainable local economy. A DNMP would work with and support the Council and its partners in this priority, benefitting communities and businesses across Dorset including our coastal communities. A DNMP would attract jobs and skills, including in the green/blue economy, and respond to Dorset’s opportunities and challenges, strengths and needs. The South Downs National Park, for example, has more young people and more digital businesses than surrounding areas; both of these would also benefit Dorset. A DNMP would also develop and add value to Dorset’s tourism economy while helping to manage tourism pressures. By promoting eco, cultural, heritage and dark skies tourism on a year-round basis, and by supporting public and sustainable transport, a DNMP would add value for Dorset’s businesses, communities and visitors.

• Address the climate and nature emergencies. A DNMP would help to meet the Council’s goals, and work with all to protect, enhance and value Dorset’s environment and heritage, across land, coast and sea. It would actively help farmers and land managers to secure additional funding and succeed sustainably so that our countryside can provide high quality food products and good jobs, support and enhance nature, manage water resources and quality, capture carbon in soils, woods and hedges, and support public health and wellbeing. As some Councillors will be aware, independent research for the former Dorset County Council indicated that Dorset’s environment and heritage are our greatest economic asset. The climate and nature emergencies underline the need for action to safeguard this vital asset. Caring for Dorset’s landscapes and environment (which involves much more than protecting specific sites and species) can be a “golden thread” running through Council policies and plans.

Communities across Dorset have expressed their support for the proposed DNMP.

Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the Council’s proposals. The Team looks forward to working with the Council to take forward the important opportunities which a DNMP can offer.

For more information: www.dorsetnationalpark.com

A Dorset National & Marine Park (DNMP) would work with and help the Dorset Council and its partners to deliver the Council’s priorities. See above for further details.