Dorset Council's Cabinet has agreed to spend £8 million on stabilising the slopes at Diners Hollow near Melbury Abbas. The Cabinet also gave the go-ahead for procurement for the installation of 750 on-street electric vehicle charging points across Dorset. The Council will also adopt the Buckhorn, Weston and Kingston Magna Neighbourhood Plan, and agreed to a range of measures to improve children's services.

Dinah's Hollow

Cabinet discussed a report on the risk of landslips at Dinah's Hollow on the C13. The report proposed an engineering scheme to reduce this risk and improve safety. The scheme requires compulsory purchase orders to be made for land on either side of the hollow.

Dorset Council has a legal duty to maintain the roads and keep road users safe.

Dorset Council has a legal obligation to provide a safe highway network across Dorset, and we must keep the travelling public as safe as possible. We must be aware of the risks, and we must act to mitigate those risks.

The scheme will cost £8 million and has been a long time in development because the council was initially unable to buy the land needed for the project. The A350 will be used as a diversion route whilst the C13 is closed.

The council explored closing the road permanently, but this was found not to be possible.

This is something that many authorities across the country are facing at the moment with a number of landslips. ... they are looking to see if there's an opportunity to permanently shut the road. What has generally been found is that to close the road or to stop up a road, that process has to go through magistrates' courts rather than through the local authority.

There was discussion about how best to communicate the closure to local residents and businesses, and to consult with them on how to manage the disruption it will cause.

Children's Services

The Cabinet discussed the positive performance of Children's Services. This included a discussion about the department's latest annual self-assessment. The council is legally obliged to carry out this assessment every year. This year's assessment highlighted the progress made towards placement sufficiency, the launch of the 0-25 service, the creation of 21 independent living options for care leavers, and the success of the council in securing over £1.3 million in external funding for a range of schemes.

The Cabinet also discussed plans to address the educational attainment gap between children in care and their peers and plans for the full roll-out of the Safeguarding Families Together programme.

We need some serious discussions with colleagues across the partners ... about actually the resources because this is going to, obviously we have to do it, but it will also save resources across the whole system, so we need to be working together.

Councillor Kiffert raised the issue of the impact of the arrival of Afghan refugees at the Chickerell Camp on local schools. The council is concerned about the impact on the local primary school and is supporting families around the clock.

So we are now many months into this arrangement. And those families arriving on flights from Pakistan are entitled to persons ... status. That means they're entitled to stay.

The Ministry of Defence is providing very basic arrangements but the council does not receive any funding to support these families and is having to meet the costs from existing budgets. The council is lobbying central government for additional funding.

Councillor Kiffert proposed, and Councillor Parry agreed that the council should write to the six new Dorset MPs to campaign for fairer funding for Dorset schools.

Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure

The Cabinet agreed to a proposal to begin the procurement process to install at least 750 electric vehicle charging points in Dorset. The council has been allocated £2.49 million from central government and will seek to appoint a charge point operator to install and operate the charge points.

The council is legally obliged to reduce carbon emissions.

The Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 places a legal duty on councils to reduce carbon emissions from their estates and operations, as far as is reasonably practicable.

Councillor Jesperson asked for an assurance that rural areas will not be left behind. Councillor Whitehouse explained that a programme is already underway to identify suitable locations.

we put in a plea for people to identify locations and put their areas forward.

Councillor Hope asked for an assurance that there will be local consultation on the locations of charge points.

Councillor Bryant raised concerns about the capacity of the electricity grid to cope with demand and asked for an assurance that the council has properly considered this.

Councillor Frye asked what measures are in place to ensure that prices charged for electricity at these charge points are kept affordable. The council explained that while it will not be procuring on price it will be looking at the pricing model offered by bidders.

Other Business

The cabinet also approved the following:

• The minutes of the previous meeting. ¹
• The Youth Justice Plan 2024-25. The plan sets out how Dorset Council and BCP Council will work together to prevent offending and re-offending by children and young people.
• The Brit Valley Natural Flood Management project. The project, which has received external funding, will deliver a range of natural flood management measures in the Brit Valley.
• The Nature Buddies Network Dorset project. This project will create a network of volunteers who will provide support and companionship to people who are experiencing social isolation.
• The Dorset Local Visitor Economy Partnership. This partnership will bring together businesses and organisations from across the visitor economy to promote Dorset as a tourist destination.
• The Buckhorn, Weston and Kingston Magna Neighbourhood Plan. The plan sets out a vision for the future of the area and allocates land for development.
• The Extra Care Housing Strategy and Accommodation Support Programme. This will see the council build 240 extra care housing units across four sites in Dorset.
• The council's productivity plan. This plan sets out how the council will improve its productivity and efficiency in light of the government's expectations.

The next meeting of the Cabinet will be held on Tuesday 10 September 2024. The meeting will be held at an as yet undecided location.