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Planning system under fire
A conservation charity has slammed Dorset Council over what it calls a ‘progressive loss of democratic accountability within the planning system’. A spokesperson for the Sherborne branch of CPRE said: “A recent meeting of the Sherborne and District Society CPRE questioned the progressive loss of democratic accountability within the planning system operated by Dorset Council.” The spokesman said members were briefed on a planning decision in a local village where ‘radical changes from the permission given for a new building were retrospectively authorised by a planning office using delegated powers’. Society chairman Sir Christopher Coville said: “There is growing concern over the way this particular case was handled, and even more importantly a general drift towards delegation by those whom we elect to be accountable for important planning decisions.” A Dorset Council spokesman “Local authority decisions are made by elected members but for the council to be able to function the law allows various executive and non-executive functions to be delegated to officers. In addition, there are some functions which the law says must be exercised by specific officers. There is a constitution that sets out the ways officers of the council can make decisions.”
Local Plan to be delayed by two years
Dorset Council is delaying the delivery of its local development plan by two years until 2026. Authority leader Cllr Spencer Flower told a cabinet meeting the delay will give the authority time to focus on ‘the right development in the right places’. Dorset Council has come under fire for the proposed Norchester development which would see 4,000 new homes built between Kingston Maurward roundabout and Charminster. A council spokesperson said: “We received an unprecedented 9,000 responses to our consultation on the draft Dorset Council Local Plan. “In summary, respondents told us we should challenge the housing numbers, saying they should reflect the needs of Dorset, not blindly follow a government calculation and not include housing for BCP Council. “We were also told we should support building more affordable housing across the area, helping working families and young people to live in Dorset and protecting Dorset’s unique natural environment. “We were also told to tackle climate change as our leading priority, ensuring the Dorset Council Local Plan and our Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy and action plan are fully aligned.” The spokesperson added: “Over the past few months, the leader of the council has been in discussions with Michael Gove, the former Secretary of State for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, as well as with the Chief Planning Officer and other senior civil servants. “Our discussions have been extremely constructive. We are now at a point where we can confirm that the adoption of the new Dorset Council Local Plan is expected in 2026. This gives us more time to develop the plan.”
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52 The West Dorset Magazine, August 12, 2022 Homes & Gardens x Horticulture...
Born and bred in West Dorset, Dave has worked in horticulture and botany locally and internationally, notably in Belgium, Jordan and the UAE. He brings a wealth of practical knowledge with its underlying principles to his writing Life and death of plants stressed out by
When plants are stressed, they become increasingly vulnerable to pests and diseases. In a changing climate, this is likely to occur with increasing frequency. At the time of writing, rainfall in our area has been incredibly low with only 2mm falling in July, lower even than some desert countries. Combined with record temperatures and a persistent breeze even established plants are demonstrating signs of stress. A few weeks ago, I was asked to investigate the cause of death to parts of an established privet hedge near Bridport. Although seemingly healthy in places, there were others that seemed dead. The statement ‘dead’ is quite a general term often misapplied to healthy plants undergoing stress or entering a dormant phase when unfavourable conditions occur. For example, many people may currently describe their yellow lawns as dead, where in fact the roots are very much alive awaiting the next rains. With woody plants, the sure-fire way of identifying death is by undertaking a simple scratch test. Take your thumb nail and gently scratch a small section of bark. If you see a green layer beneath, the plant is still living, if brown, that section is dead. If you find the latter, move down the branch and repeat the test. If still brown, continue towards the base of the plant until you find a green layer and if there is none then it’s dead. There are many reasons why small sections of woody plants die back, but rapid death of a whole plant warrants investigation. Sections of the aforementioned privet hedge were found to be totally dead. The next task to identify the cause. In the vicinity significant work had occurred in the recent past, but was this the reason, something sinister or another cause? Donning my deerstalker hat in Conan Doyle fashion, I recalled privet (Ligustrum ovalifolium) suffers from a few diseases, the most common, honey fungus (Armillaria) and privet anthracnose. Anthracnose is treatable, but there is no available control for honey fungus. Accurately identifying the disease would have significant implications,
DEAD OR ALIVE: A living branch and, right, a dead one
Plant of the week:
There are many yellow flowering natives of the aster family in west Dorset. Some are tricky to identify, but the fleabane is easy. It inhabits damp ground, so often associated with riverbanks and ditches. Its stems and leaves, that clasp the stem, are hairy often giving the plant a greyishgreen appearance. It blooms during August and September when most other yellow-flowering natives have set seed. When crushed the plant is aromatic, giving off odors reputed to ward off fleas, hence its common name.
Fleabane Pulicaria dysenterica
...with botanist Dr Dave Aplin a changing climate
NOT MUCH FUN: Bootlace fungal growth both financial (removing the hedge and replanting) and from temporary loss of privacy. Honey fungus can cause the death of established plants, often spreading along hedgerows, it can infect a large number of plants, but privet is more susceptible than most. It was the wrong time of year to see the characteristic honeycoloured fungi that give this mushroom its common name, but fortunately honey fungus has another omnipresent trait, underground, black rootlike structures that give it its alternative common name, the bootlace fungus. Bootlaces are not always easy to find, but careful excavation in the soil at the base of plants revealed this tale-tale structure, allowing me to confirm cause of death as honey fungus. It was important for the owners to take prompt action to remove infected sections of the hedge, including the roots and immediate surrounding ground, replacing it with new soil. Heavy duty plastic barriers to 45cm deep and 5cm are sometimes adopted to help isolate an infection, followed by replanting with alternative hedging plants. Privet, viburnum, cotoneaster and the leyland cypress are the most susceptible hedging plants to honey fungus, with yew, pittosporum and griselinia rarely affected. Honey fungus is native to Britain, but its frequency is likely to increase as plants become more stressed from climate change. Planting hedgerows with a mixture of species, or species rarely infected should provide greater resilience to this disease.
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