Dorset · Local news you can trust
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.
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Food hygiene
Dorset Food Hygiene: Wareham Mobile Caterer Rated 1
A Wareham mobile caterer is rated 1 for how it manages food safety. Of 180 Dorset inspections from August and September, 171 scored the top rating of 5.
Roadworks
A31 Shuts at Night from 5 October, Bere Regis to the A350
National Highways will close the A31 overnight between Bere Regis and the A350 for about four weeks from 5 October, and for a full weekend from 16 October.
Dorset Council
Dorset Dog Beach Ban to Stay 1 May to 30 Sept, Officers Say
Officers want every Dorset dog rule kept from January 2027 after 5,013 people replied. Seatown Beach split 282 to 280, and the £100 fixed penalty stays.
Weymouth
Weymouth Printer's Asbestos Death: Family Seek Co-Workers
Terry Ridyard died of mesothelioma at 63. His family want to hear from anyone who worked with him at Jeffrey Bros Printers in Maiden Street, Weymouth.
Events
What's On in Dorset: Beach Motocross, Then Weymouth Fireworks
Free motocross on Weymouth Beach on 10 and 11 October, the fireworks at 8pm on 5 November, plus 42 more dated events with times, prices and organiser links.
Books
Golden Magical Ribbon: Dorset author's books for 6 to 9s
Blandford Forum author Debra-Anne Thompson has two Golden Magical Ribbon books out for 6 to 9s, with book three due in October and book four in November.
Fire
Keel House Fire: £760 Raised by Three Weymouth Appeals
Three people left with nothing by the Keel House fire have opened fundraisers. £760 between them by Wednesday afternoon, in their own words, and how to give.
Fireworks
Dorset fireworks 2026: Weymouth beach at 8pm on 5 November
Weymouth: stalls on the Promenade from 5pm on Thursday 5 November, beach bonfire 7.40pm, fireworks from a boat in the bay at 8pm, plus a pilot drone show.
Christmas
Dorset pantomimes 2026: Cinderella at Weymouth from 19 Dec
Cinderella at Weymouth Pavilion runs 19 December to 2 January, adults £22 to £25. Jack and the Beanstalk at the Tivoli, Wimborne, is 12 December to 3 January.
Christmas
Santa in Dorset 2026: Swanage Railway from 28 November
Swanage Railway's Yuletide Express runs from 28 November at £29.95 a seat and Kingston Lacy's Storytelling with Santa is £15.50 a child from the same day.
Christmas
Kingston Lacy Christmas 2026: Starlit Ball from 21 November
Kingston Lacy's Starlit Christmas Ball runs 21 November to 3 January, free with admission and no booking. House open 10.30am to 3pm, closed 25 and 26 December.
Transport
Sandbanks Ferry Refit: Last Crossings on 1 November
The chain ferry stops for a planned seven weeks from 2 November for its major refit in Poole and Falmouth. The last sailing leaves Shell Bay at 11.10pm on Sunday 1 November.
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.
Every fact is linked to the document it came from.