HUNDREDS of residents are expected to pack a meeting where councillors will debate the results of a recent consultation into the controversial Purbeck Local Plan.

Public consultation on the plan, which will help shape future development across the district, finished in August - and in November at The Purbeck School, Purbeck District Council's (PDC) partial review advisory group will discuss the issues raised over the past few months.

Residents and businesses have been asked to comment on the plan, which will eventually identify the preferred sites for more than 5,000 new homes within the PDC area up until 2033.

Many of the possible development sites included in the consultation proved controversial, leading to opposition groups being formed by residents at Wool, Wareham, Lytchett Minster and Lytchett Matravers.

PDC partial review advisory group chairman Cllr Peter Wharf said: "Officers and councillors are reviewing the 3,300 responses to the consultation and this meeting enables the partial review advisory group to discuss the way forward."

The Purbeck School meeting will include an opportunity for public partition at the start, council officials say.

"We appreciate that many people will be keen to talk during the public participation," said Cllr Wharf. "But we need to ensure there is enough time for a proper debate.

"Therefore, may we ask anyone wishing to speak who shares specific concerns with others they know, that they please band together and nominate a spokesperson.

"This is in order to ensure that we hear as many differing viewpoints as possible."

The Purbeck Local Plan, which was adopted by PDC in 2012, includes a legal requirement for a partial review.

While not an official planning application in its own right, the plan is essentially a blueprint which PDC's planning board could use to help determine future planning applications.

The main issue this partial review will address is the potential for additional housing, over and above the 2,520 homes identified in the original plan when it was adopted four years ago.

Since then the Eastern Dorset Strategic Market Assessment (SHMA), which is a study of the way the housing market works in particular areas, found PDC would have to provide an extra 3,080 homes by 2033 to address the current housing shortage.

Anyone wishing to speak should register in advance with PDC's democratic services between 8.30am, Tuesday, October 25, and 4pm, Monday, October 31.

The meeting is set for The Purbeck School, Worgret Road, Wareham, at 5pm on Wednesday, November 2.