Letter on ONS Dorset Housing Growth

Conflict between recent ONS Dorset Housing Growth and NPPF Housing Need Guidance

Dorset CPRE recently wrote to Cllr Shane Bartlett, Member for Planning and Emergency Planning, to express our concern that Dorset Council’s emerging Local Plan may be rendered unsound if it continues to adopt the Government’s Standard Method figure of 3,246 homes per annum (55,182 homes over 17 years).

The latest ONS (Office for National Statistics) 2022-based household projections, published on 28th October 2025, indicate that Dorset’s true household growth will be between 1,700 and 2,000 per annum, depending on migration assumptions.