THE senior councillor in charge of planning in Dorset has defended the decision to go beyond the Government minimum ‘housing need’ figure. Cllr David Walsh says that working towards having land for 39,000 homes, rather than the minimum of 30,500 over the next 17 years, is a safer position for Dorset to be in. He says that in the past large parts of the county only aimed to provide the minimum Government target figures – and after only a short period the numbers slipped, leaving large parts of the county open to developers. Cllr David Walsh says that with less than the Government’s housing land supply of five years developers are more difficult to resist in areas where local people may not want them to build – because all they do is appeal council decision and with less than the minimum supply figures planning inspectors are likely to side with their development ambitions.