A COMMUNITY group fighting proposals for 650 new homes at Lytchett Minster has welcomed the government's 'Fixing our broken housing market' white paper.

Robin SeQueira, of the Lytchett Minster Planning Watch group - also known as LYMPWATCH - believes the government document makes a clear commitment to "keep the green belt sacrosanct."

However, the white paper - setting out the government's position on the UK's current housing shortage - does make it clear that local authorities will have powers to amend green belt boundaries, but only if they can demonstrate all other reasonable options have been examined.

Mr SeQueira told the Daily Echo: "Having watched the presentation of the paper in Parliament, and the vehemence of ministers and Conservative MPs to the protection of the green belt, we just hope the white paper actually does what it says it wants to do.

"It talks about changing boundaries only in very exceptional circumstances. Thus far, the local plans in some areas have shown no such evidence of exceptional circumstances, merely that councils need to build houses and they're going to use the green belt.

"This has been done before al other options to increase housing stock have been exhausted. That is the issue we want to hammer home."

Mr SeQueria told the Echo that LYMPWATCH is not opposed to new house building in Purbeck, but members believe the numbers being suggested will "destroy local communities, not enhance them."

Purbeck District Council announced a question and answer session at The Purbeck School, Wareham, next month, as part of its ongoing consultation into the partial review of the Purbeck Local Plan.

This Purbeck Local Plan will eventually identify preferred sites for more than 5,000 new homes within the district up until 2033. LYMPWATCH is campaigning against proposals relating to Lytchett Minster within this partial review.

Writing in the white paper, Communities and Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid said: "For decades the pace of house building has been sluggish at best. As a result, the number of new homes has not kept pace with our growing population.

"And that, in turn, has created a market that fails to work for far too many people.

"Soaring prices and rising rents caused by a shortage of the right homes in the right places has slammed the door of the housing market in the face of a whole generation."

The Purbeck Local Plan consultation meeting is scheduled for 5-6.30pm, Thursday, March 16.