Dorset news, what's on and local information

Coming up

All The events
  1. On now to 1 Nov The Great Halloween Mystery, Moors Valley Moors Valley Country Park and Forest · From £3.50
  2. On now to 31 Oct Bincombe Bumps Pumpkins, October Pumpkin Festival Bincombe Bumps · Free
  3. On now to 25 Oct Pumpkins and Fun on the Farm, Dewflock Farm Dewflock Farm · From £6.50
  4. Mon 19 Oct Nigel Havers: Talking B*ll*cks 7.30pm · Weymouth Pavilion · From £38
  5. Tue 20 Oct People's Emergency Briefing: screening and panel discussion 6pm · The Pavilion, Bournemouth · Free

Latest Dorset news

What's On Lulworth Cove: Parking £9 for 3 Hours, Stair Hole, Dogs Lulworth Cove parking is £9 for three hours or £25 for nine, every day. Stair Hole, rock pools, dogs, the walk to Durdle Door and buses, checked 14 October. · 9 min read Dorchester Dorset Autumn Afternoon: £25 Folk and Ploughman's, 15 Nov Folk musicians Alastair Braidwood and Tim Laycock play Dorchester Corn Exchange at 1pm on Sunday 15 November; £25 buys a ploughman's lunch and a drink. · 3 min read Dorchester Shire Hall Museum Dorchester Closes After 3 Years of Losses The courtroom where the Tolpuddle Martyrs were tried shut to visitors at 1pm on 8 October. Its accounts show three years of spending over income. · 3 min read What's On Durdle Door: Parking £15 to £35, the Walk Down, Dogs Durdle Door is free; parking above it is £15 for six hours or £25 for nine, every day. The 15-minute walk down, dogs, buses and swimming, checked 13 October. · 9 min read Weymouth Weymouth Medieval Dig Finds on Show Free at County Hall Finds from two Weymouth digs are on show free at County Hall, Dorchester, to 23 October. The artefacts are out only on 14 and 21 October, 11am to 2pm. · 3 min read Wareham Wareham A352 Crash: Driver, 18, Dies as Police Seek Dashcam An 18-year-old driver died after a crash on the A352 Wareham Road at 11.50pm on Sunday 11 October. Dorset Police want witnesses and dashcam footage. · 1 min read Buses Dorset Buses: 700 Extra Weekly Journeys From Summer 2027 Dorset Council has approved a seven-year bus plan: 700 more journeys a week and Saturday buses on every core route from summer 2027. Routes are not named yet. · 6 min read SEND Dorset SEND Plan Approved: Grant Due on a £148.8m Deficit Ministers approved Dorset's SEND plan, so the government will pay 90% of the eligible high needs deficit. The schools fund was £148.8m in the red in March. · 4 min read Dorset Council Dorset Council This Week: 828 Homes Back at Committee Crossways' 500 homes and Chickerell's 328 go back to planning committee on Wednesday, both recommended for approval. Plus an £8.1m overspend forecast. · 4 min read Poole Free Half-Term Family Sessions in Poole on 24 and 25 Oct Two free family activity sessions in Poole this half term: 24 October at Bank by Nicholas James, 25 October at Hotel du Vin, for ages 3 to 7. Booking needed. · 2 min read Charmouth Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre: Cabinet Backs Inland Move Charmouth Parish Council will get government money to buy Hensleigh House as a future home for the centre, which erosion is expected to claim by about 2055. · 4 min read Roadworks Dorchester Road Weymouth Closure: Buses Diverted From 19 Oct Dorchester Road in Radipole shuts from 19 October. Buses 2, 10 and X51 divert via Weymouth Way and miss six stops; normal routes return 19 Dec to 3 Jan. · 5 min read

Dorset Council covers everything the Bournemouth conurbation does not, which is a very large and very rural authority with no single town at the middle of it. Dorchester is the county town and where the council is based. Weymouth is the largest place. Sherborne, Shaftesbury, Gillingham and Sturminster Newton are up in the north around the Blackmore Vale, Bridport and Lyme Regis are out west, Blandford Forum sits in the middle, and Wimborne, Ferndown, Verwood and Swanage are east and south.

The Dorset Post reports what the record shows across all of it. One council makes the decisions on planning, bins, parking and council tax for the lot, and publishes the evidence where hardly anybody reads it. We read it and write down what it says, with a link to the document on every fact.

Start here

  • Dorset house prices: the £326,381 county average, and what the middle home actually sold for in nineteen towns from Portland to the Hampshire border.
  • Trains to London: Gillingham reaches Waterloo in 2h 07m for £8,212 a year, Weymouth takes 2h 51m and costs £10,260.
  • Roadworks and travel: what is dug up and when, the A35 speed cameras, the chain ferry and the Weymouth park and ride.
  • Things to do in Dorset: checked 2026 prices, from free hillforts to a £15 car park at Durdle Door.
  • Planning news: 2.53 years of housing land against the five required, and a Local Plan that will not be adopted until 2029.

How the site is laid out

  • Local Info: house prices, trains, roadworks and planning for the Dorset Council area.
  • News: the public record, from the Vale to the coast.
  • What’s On: what is on across the county this week.

Every fact is linked to the document it came from.