6.1.1 There are a limited number of community facilities in our area. There are two modest-sized village halls (in Tincleton and West Stafford), two pubs (in West Knighton and West Stafford), two equipped children’s play areas (in West Knighton and West Stafford) and four churches (one in every parish, together with burial grounds).
6.1.2 Many of the services used by local residents are located in adjoining areas. Local first schools can be found in Broadmayne (serving West Knighton and West Stafford) and Puddletown (serving Tincleton and Woodsford), with middle school provision for the area provided in Puddletown. Healthcare, in terms of GP surgeries, are located in Crossways and Puddletown, as well as the county town of Dorchester. NHS dental practices also operate from Dorchester, although there is a capacity shortage which means that there are no practices in the whole of the county taking new adult NHS patients (as of November 2023). There are also local shops in Broadmayne, Crossways and Puddletown. Broadmayne and Puddletown have Post Offices.
6.1.3 The 2022 Household Survey indicated that typically the village halls and pubs were used by around a quarter of households, and there was slightly lower usage of the play areas and churches. The majority of Tincleton residents responding to that survey indicated that at that time that they would like to have a children’s play area and/or recreation area, but this was not the case in the follow-up survey in 2023 where there was little support for such development on the sites put forward. Whilst there were limited suggestions otherwise put forward, the most popular included:
6.1.4 Given the limited scale of growth that is likely to take place locally, the provision of additional local services is unlikely to grow. However, should new facilities come forward, these could include uses such as a small shop, café or leisure facility. These would need to be small-scale to avoid harming the vitality of nearby town or local centres through drawing significant levels of trade away from those areas. As a guide, the reference in the policy to ‘small-scale’ should therefore be interpreted as below 280m² gross floorspace, as this is considered to be of a scale that would not require any sequential or impact assessment (based on the recommendations of the 2022 update to the Dorset Retail & Leisure Study) and therefore appropriate to a rural area.
Policy 15. Supporting community facilities
1. Community facilities listed below should be retained, and every effort should be made to work with the local community to investigate potential solutions to avoid any unnecessary closures, and consider alternative services that may benefit the community.
2. Proposals that would allow such facilities to modernise and adapt for future needs, including complementary facilities that would support their long-term viability, are encouraged.
3. Proposals for new small-scale facilities that can help meet local needs will in principle be supported, provided the site is within or readily accessible from the built-up areas of Tincleton, West Knighton, West Stafford and Woodsford, and subject to consideration of environmental, road safety and amenity concerns.
< Previous | ^ Top | Next >