Local news, what's on and the information you need across Dorset, from Dorchester to the Blackmore Vale.
The Dorset Post

Dorset · Local news you can trust

Dorset news, what's on and local information

Schools Wey Valley Academy Wins UNICEF's Top Rights Award Community Blandford St Mary Gets £456,780 for a New Village Hall Weymouth Weymouth Town Council Gives £26,000 to Eight Local Groups

Coming up

All The events
  1. On now to 14 Nov BridLit 2026 at the Electric Palace Electric Palace · From £16.50
  2. Fri 13 Nov The Comedy Store, Bridport Electric Palace · From £19.50
  3. Fri 13 Nov The Illegal Eagles 7.30pm · Weymouth Pavilion · From £41.50
  4. Fri 13 Nov A Head Full of Coldplay 7.30pm · Dorchester Corn Exchange · From £20
  5. Sat 14 Nov Weymouth parkrun 9am · Weymouth parkrun · Free

Latest Dorset news

Roads Dorset Gritting This Winter: 12,000 Tonnes of Salt and 23 Routes Dorset Council grits 23 main routes once roads are forecast below 0.5°C. It has stocked more than 12,000 tonnes of salt, and a live map shows which roads are done. · 2 min read Best places to live The Dorset town 'punching well above its weight' named among UK's best places to live Bridport has been named among the UK's best places to live for 2027, one of eight places in Dorset on the list alongside Sherborne, Lyme Regis and Wimborne. · 6 min read Christmas Boxing Day Walks in Dorset: 8 Hills, Coast Paths and Parks Open on 26 December We checked 8 Boxing Day walks in Dorset, from the Cerne Abbas mummers to Old Harry Rocks, for what is open on 26 December and when it gets dark. Updated November 2026. · 14 min read Dorchester Two Graves Found Under Fairfield Road in Dorchester Two graves with human remains were found on 2 November during the Fairfield Road improvements. Their age is not yet known; earlier digs there found Roman burials. · 2 min read Crime Weymouth Stabbing: Four Arrested After Canberra Crescent Attack A man in his 20s was stabbed in Canberra Crescent, Weymouth, at about 7.50pm on 6 November. Four people have been arrested and bailed. Quote 55260175063. · 1 min read Community Dorset Council Grants of up to £25,000: Apply by 10 January Village halls, sports clubs and community buildings can bid for £1,000 to £25,000 from Dorset Council. The fund has £155,000 to give and closes at 11.59pm on 10 January. · 4 min read Roads Beaminster Tunnel Closed From 9 November to 4 December Beaminster Tunnel on the A3066 shuts for four weeks from Monday 9 November for landslip safety work. Drivers follow a signed diversion on other A roads. · 2 min read Education Dorset SEND Deficit: £145m Grant Due, Back to £150m by 2028 Dorset is due a £145m government grant this month to clear most of its SEND deficit. A council report says the deficit will be back to about £150m by March 2028. · 3 min read Christmas Dorset Carol Services 2026: Sherborne Abbey Carols 20 Dec Sherborne Abbey's Festival of Lessons and Carols is at 5pm on Sunday 20 December, free and not ticketed. Plus Weymouth, Dorchester and Blandford outdoor carols. · 7 min read Housing Dorset Rough Sleepers: 32 Places Planned by Christmas About 25 people sleep rough in Dorset, most in Weymouth, Bridport and Lyme Regis. The council plans 32 places by Christmas, six of them on a Weymouth bus. · 3 min read Business Dorset Innovation Park Adds 125 Jobs in a Year Dorset Innovation Park near Wool added 125 full-time jobs in a year. Yeovil College plans a defence skills centre there, if ministers approve the money. · 2 min read Heritage Tracy Chevalier Backs Bid to Save Dorset's 96% Full Archive The archive stores at Dorset History Centre in Dorchester are 96% full. Novelist Tracy Chevalier narrates a film for the £5.28m project to expand them. · 2 min read
See all Dorset news

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.