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

Dorset & district · Local news you can trust

Water Hosepipe ban in Dorset: who it covers and who it does not Roads Weymouth Esplanade to close overnight from 28 September Business Weymouth Bay Coffee Co at Lodmoor goes into liquidation

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Local Info Dorset house prices: £326,381 average, town by town The Dorset average is £326,381, still 7.3% below its 2022 peak. Our read of 5,528 sales gives medians for 19 towns, from Portland to St Leonards. 12 min read Local Info Dorset trains to London: 2h07 Gillingham, 2h51 Weymouth Gillingham reaches Waterloo in 2h07 and costs £8,212 a year. Weymouth takes 2h51 and costs £10,260. Times, fares and first trains for every Dorset station. 9 min read Local Info Dorset Roadworks: A35 Shut Nightly to 5 September The A35 shuts 8pm to 6am between Stinsford and Bere Regis every weeknight until 5 September, and a 12-week job at a Weymouth junction starts on 7 September. 14 min read Local Info Things to do in Dorset: free Durdle Door, £15 car park Durdle Door and its beach are free. The clifftop car park is £15 for six hours, £25 for nine, but Lulworth Castle's is £4 all day if you will walk in. 11 min read Local Info Dorset planning: 2.53 years of housing land, not 5 Dorset can show 2.53 years of housing land against the five required, and its Local Plan will not be adopted until 2029. Consultation opens 21 September. 13 min read Local Info Dorset bin collection days: no bank holiday changes Dorset collects on every bank holiday, including Monday 31 August. Only Christmas and New Year move. Garden waste is £74, and four tips need a booking. 8 min read Local Info Parking in Dorset: 70p for 30 minutes, free after 6pm Most Dorset Council car parks charge 8am to 6pm and nothing after. Weymouth seafront bays cost £7.30 overnight, and Portland's Chesil charges round the clock. 8 min read Local Info Dorset council tax 2026/27: £2,625.43 before your parish Band D is £2,625.43 before any parish precept. Sturminster Newton adds £303.52 on top, 28 parishes add nothing, and two percentages on the council's page do not match its own figures. 12 min read
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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.