News & Events

We are recruiting for a DCF Project Officer to develop and lead on a range of projects, working alongside partners and communities in areas along Dorset’s coast. We are looking for great communicators, someone who loves the Dorset coast but also loves delivering and working collaboratively with coastal communities and stakeholders to achieve effective outcomes. The post will involve delivering several projects simultaneously therefore candidates should have excellent project management skills and the ability to prioritise with changing parameters.

The post is full time (37 hours per week) fixed-term contract for two years initially. Please download the Context Statement and Job Description available through the link for full details.

Find out more and apply here – Dorset Coast Forum Project Officer (Dorchester) (dorsetcouncil.gov.uk) Closing date – 6 June

WEYMOUTH NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN
Sara and Nikki had a great afternoon at the Weymouth Community Expo chatting with visitors and encouraging them to cast their vote on the 5 main Weymouth Neighbourhood Plan themes – Communities, Jobs, Homes, Landscapes & Green Spaces and Sustainable Environments.  To find out more about the plan, please see Weymouth Neighbourhood Plan and look out for the interactive public surveys and maps coming very soon on our Have Your Say webpage.  We encourage everyone in Weymouth to share their thoughts and ideas and help shape the plan so it reflects all communities! 

If you are a community leader, school, college, organisation or group in Weymouth keen to find out more about the Neighbourhood Plan and how it effects the places where you live, please contact Sara or Nikki at dorset.coast@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk

SWANAGE TOWN CENTRE FLOOD DEFENCES

• This month the Swanage Seafront Strategy group are taking a trip to see creative coastal flood management schemes in Portsmouth hosted by DCF and the Environment Agency.  This on-site research is vital to help shape opportunities for major coastal flood defence work incorporating town public realm improvements.
• Sara will be kick-starting community engagement activities by joining the Swanage Jubilee celebrations on Friday 3 June so please look out for her and say hello.
• In early April the large, concrete temporary coastal flood defence blocks were removed by the Environment Agency. This is always a great visual talking point and gave Sara the opportunity to chat to Helen from Swanage News highlighting community engagement plans for the coming months including a stand on 24 September at the Planet Purbeck Festival The Planet Purbeck Festival – Planet Purbeck.  If you are a community group or organisation in Swanage and would like to know more about this project please contact Sara directly sara.parker@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk
• Outdoor Classroom Day on 19 May, will involve DCF and the Environment Agency hosting St Mark’s Primary School on a Seafront Walkie Talkie highlighting flood risk areas, current flood defences, innovative ways to find a permanent solution and the local effects of coastal erosion. Sara will also be taking part in Swanage School’s Challenge Day – Healthy Planet on 6 July – another excellent opportunity to get local young people involved in the project.

PHASE V LYME REGIS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENTS SCHEME

• Project Officer Sara will be hosting an event for the Lyme Regis fishing community on 24 May as part of our Phase 1 community engagements highlighting the project scope and facilitating a Q&A session with the Project Engineering Lead and Lyme Regis Harbourmaster.  If you are a member of the Lyme Regis fishing community and you have not received your invite or wish to find out more about this project please contact sara.parker@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk

STUDLAND MARINE PARTNERSHIP – ECO-MOORING PROJECT

• Since the Studland Bay Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) was established in May 2019 DCF has been involved helping to facilitate the formation of the Studland Marine Partnership and DCF Project Officer Sara is delighted to now be the main DCF contact point for the for the wider public communications and consultations.
• This is a wide-reaching partnership involving organisations such as the National Trust, Dorset Wildlife Trust, the Seahorse Trust, RYA and Southampton University.  Opportunities for nature based research and learning as well as wide public engagement to raise awareness of the environmental impacts of the Marine Conservation Zone are a priority and Sara will be hosting a fieldwork trip with Y12 students from Purbeck School in July as well as working in partnership in the wider community.  We will soon be updating our website to reflect the progression of the project but you can learn more about the history of it here Studland Bay 3C’s Project

WEYMOUTH STATION GATEWAY IMPROVEMENT SCHEME

• Work starts this month on the Railway Heritage Park! This work will see the transformation of an unused section of land where the tramlines remain and merging with an existing path that runs alongside B&Q, to create an attractive walkway and cycle link between King Street and the Jubilee Retail Park. The transformed area will become a Railway Heritage Park to reflect the history of the railway and former tramlines along the harbour.

Artist impression of the Railway Heritage Park

• Weymouth Railway Heritage interpretation will be displayed in the station forecourt, as well as locations where the tramlines exist. The heritage information designs are being developed tell the story of the station and tramway with life size characters to represent the heritage and link in with other sites around the town.
• At the station, new bus stop road markings are now in place to incorporate the two new bus stops in the station and on King Street. The change of priority has also been implemented on Queen Street in favour of traffic existing from the station. Signage is in place to indicate these changes.
• Bus services stopping at the station will be the X53/X52/502 and services stopping at King Street will be the No.1 and 501 to Portland. First Wessex have published new bus timetables with services due to commence end of May or early June.

• Look out for updates on the weekly blog.

WEYMOUTH BRIC

• The recently held ‘Weymouth Guided Walk’ was a success, with 17 people attending in total. There was lots of conversation on flood protection, resilience, and practical steps people can take. It also served as a great opportunity for us to hear peoples’ thoughts and experiences of flooding in the area.
• Flood Warden training will be held on 17^th May from 6-8pm. This will be an opportunity for anybody potentially interested in volunteering as a flood warden in Weymouth to get a better idea of what the role includes, along with a chance to ask any questions around flooding in Weymouth. more information can be found here: Weymouth: Flood Volunteering – Communities Prepared
• We recently held a ‘Community Voices’ workshop for stakeholders in which we read out first-person interviews with residents of the community. We asked attendees to note down the key themes on a Jamboard, providing us with a vital insight into the thoughts and feelings of the community. This is a great basis on which to build future work. If you would like to see the outcome of this workshop, please get in touch with Dan.
• Over the coming months, we are looking to hold engagement events to get the communities’ feedback on what they would like to see in a ‘Householder Guide’ to flooding and flood preparedness. Keep an eye out for the dates of these events.

For more information, please contact dan.williams@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk or visit Weymouth BRIC

Dorset Youth Council
Sara has been invited to highlight the work of DCF and our various projects and events to the Dorset Youth Council at their next meeting on the 13 May.  Dorset Youth Council gives young people in Dorset a brilliant platform to influence the things that matter to them and DCF is keen to ensure that the environmental challenges and issues that many of our projects cover incorporate a youth voice. Find out how she gets on in next month’s e-news!

Championing Coastal Coordination – Solent Forum 3Cs South Project
DCF have been working with the Solent Forum on the 3Cs South Project. This work is now completed and Solent Forum have published a new handbook Solent Forum – Championing Coastal Coordination.

SUSTAINABLE SWANAGE

• Sustainable Swanage have been working on an exciting project to remind everyone that it should always be #OnlyRainDownTheDrain and nothing else, with this great pavement artwork from Dorset artist Claire Nuttall.

• The Swanage Community Pantry is off to a good start thanks to the dedication of a fantastic group of volunteers. Over 100kg of food has so far been saved from the bin and redistributed for the community. We are seeking to work with more local businesses. If you are a shop or catering business and you have surplus items (non-refrigerated currently) then please get in touch. Also if you would like to volunteer and join our team then contact sarah.spurling@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk
• The next event for Purbeck repair café, will be held at Sandy Hills in Corfe Castle on 25^th June. We will be offering sewing repairs and bike repairs and hopefully will be able to offer more. Further details to follow.
• The wildflower and butterfly surveys are underway and is a key focus of the next couple of months. Our first wildflower training session was attended by 14 new volunteers.

SEE THE FULL MAY ENEWS HERE