Dorset

17°CPartly Cloudy

• Today: 20° / 13° · 17% rain
• Tomorrow: 22° / 16° · Overcast

Source: WeatherAPI

Sunrise 06:38Sunset 19:32

12h 54m of daylight today

Next bank holiday: Christmas Day, Fri 25 Dec

Source: sunrise-sunset.org · gov.uk

25US AQI · Good

Main pollutant: ozone

Source: WAQI · Bournemouth, United Kingdom

2 reported · July 2026

• Anti-social behaviour2

Neighbourhood team: Dorchester · Dorset

Source: data.police.uk (within ~1 mile)

686 reported road collisions (2024)

156 killed or seriously injured · 883 casualties · 18.1 collisions per 10,000 residents

Source: DfT reported road collisions (STATS19)

7 food businesses within 2 miles

• 5 rated 4–5 ★ (5 top)
• 0 rated 0–2 (poor)

Source: Food Standards Agency

• 1 bus stops within ~½ mile

Source: OpenStreetMap, National Rail

£325,410 average▲ 1.6% YoY

Across Dorset · to 2026-06

Source: UK House Price Index (HM Land Registry)

£1,051 average monthly rent▲ 4.8% YoY

• 1 bed £728
• 2 bed £961
• 3 bed £1,184

Source: ONS Price Index of Private Rents · to 2026-07

9.9× house price to earnings

A typical home costs 9.9 times median annual pay (9.5× for cheaper homes vs lower pay).

Source: ONS house price to workplace earnings ratio · 2025

• Swimming pools1
• Sports pitches5

Source: OpenStreetMap (within ~1 mile)

379,579 residents in Dorset · 152/km²

• Under 16: 15%
• 16–64: 55%
• 65+: 30%

Source: ONS Census 2021 (local authority)

Less deprived than the average in England

Ranked 197 of 317 English local authorities (1 = most deprived)

3% of neighbourhoods are in England’s most deprived 10%

Source: English Indices of Deprivation 2019

£2,765 a year · Band D, 2026-27

Most homes here are Band C (23% of 187,680)

Source: VOA council-tax stock · MHCLG band levels 2026-27

184 schools · 51,332 pupils

119 primary · 18 secondary · 47 other

Ofsted: 68 of 86 graded schools rated Good or Outstanding (79%)

158inspected under Ofsted’s 2024+ framework (graded by area, no single overall grade)

Source: DfE Get Information about Schools · Ofsted · Dorset

385 CQC-registered services

• Care homes121
• GP practices59
• Dentists84
• Homecare agencies86
• Hospitals & hospices14

CQC ratings: 96% of rated services Good or Outstanding · 2 Inadequate

Source: Care Quality Commission · Dorset

• Not in the Green Belt
• 24 listed buildings within ~1.5 km

Source: planning.data.gov.uk (England)

662 applications decided

92.4% granted · 612 granted, 50 refused

Source: MHCLG planning statistics (PS2) · 2026 Q1

Liberal Democrat / Green coalition

• Lab 2
• Con 30
• LD 42
• Grn 4
• Oth 4

Source: Open Council Data UK (CC BY-SA)

• Schools1

Source: OpenStreetMap (within ~1 mile)

20,515 active business enterprises in the area

Source: ONS UK Business Counts (2025)

8,759 jobs advertised · £39,490 avg

e.g. Roadside Rescue Mechanic, Roadside Vehicle Technician, Roadside Vehicle Mechanic

Source: Adzuna

£737 median full-time weekly pay

2.3% of residents aged 16–64 claim unemployment-related benefits

£27,403 disposable income per head (2024)

Source: ONS / Nomis (claimant count · ASHE) · ONS regional GDHI

43% of homes rated EPC C or above

Most common band: D · 186,790 certificates

9.9% of households were in fuel poverty (2023)

Source: MHCLG EPC statistics · DESNZ sub-regional fuel poverty

Life expectancy: 85.4 yrs women · 82.1 yrs men

Healthy life expectancy: 65.6 women · 65.3 men

66% of adults overweight or obese

Source: OHID Fingertips · 2025

• Life satisfaction7.6
• Feeling worthwhile7.9
• Happiness yesterday7.6
• Anxiety yesterday (lower is better)2.9

Average rating out of 10 · ONS personal well-being 2022-23

Open UK Parliament petitions most signed in West Dorset:

• Hold a referendum to bring the water industry into public ownership477 local signatures · 163,883 nationwide
• Do not ban social media for under 16s335 local signatures · 217,501 nationwide
• Make a public animal abuser register & automatically ban ownership317 local signatures · 242,705 nationwide
• Ban anyone convicted of terrorism offences from standing for public office287 local signatures · 205,058 nationwide
• Hold a UK-wide briefing on climate and nature risks237 local signatures · 49,615 nationwide

Source: petition.parliament.uk · as of 2026-08-06

• 
  Melcombe Horsey · 1.4 km

  Melcombe Horsey is a civil parish in the county of Dorset in South West England. It contains the small settlements of Melcombe Bingham, Bingham's Melcombe and Higher Melcombe, the last being the site of the deserted v…

• 
  Cheselbourne · 1.7 km

  Cheselbourne is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England, situated in the Dorset Downs, 7 miles (11 km) north-east of Dorchester. The parish is at an altitude of 75 to 245 metres and covers an area of 1,175 hecta…

• 
  Ansty, Dorset · 2.4 km

  Ansty is a village in the civil parish of Hilton, in Dorset, England, north of Cheselbourne and west of Milton Abbas. It consists of the settlements of Higher Ansty, Lower Ansty, Pleck and Ansty Cross. The Hall & Wood…

• 
  Hilton, Dorset · 2.7 km

  Hilton is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England. It is sited at an elevation of 135 metres in a small valley which drains chalk hills in the eastern part of the Dorset Downs, approxima…

• 
  Lyscombe Hill · 2.7 km

  Lyscombe Hill is a hill near Melcombe Bingham about 14 kilometres north-northeast of Dorchester in the county of Dorset, England. It is part of the Dorset Downs and is listed as a so-called HuMP.

• 
  Dorset (district) · 3.2 km

  Dorset is a unitary authority area within the larger ceremonial county of Dorset, South West England. It covers the entire ceremonial county with the exception of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in the south-east.…

Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA)