BBC Dorset

A council is offering free parking in the run-up to the festive season. Dorset Council said the initiative was intended to support local businesses and encourage residents to shop locally.Free parking will be available in council-run car parks in Beaminster, Blandford, Bridport, Corfe Castle, Dorchester, Ferndown, Gillingham, Lyme Regis, Shaftesbury, Sherborne, Sturminster Newton, Wareham, Weymouth and Wimborne.Councillor Richard Biggs said: "Christmas can be an expensive time, especially with the current pressures on household budgets."The JustPark app and ticket…

Marcus WhiteSouth of EnglandJim GardnerJim Gardner said the green space was an "amazing, quiet place to sit and escape"A man who spent eight years creating a public garden on borrowed land has said he is "so hurt" by a plan to evict him.Jim Gardner was given informal permission to develop the so-called Secret Garden, with exotic plants and artwork, along a public footpath in Poole, Dorset.However, the landowner, Bournemouth & Poole College, said it had become "overgrown and…

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A 17-year-old motorcyclist has died after a collision with a lorry.Dorset Police said the crash, involving the motorbike and a DAF truck, happened shortly before 17:00 GMT at the Safety Drive roundabout in Poole.The boy, from north Dorset, died at the scene. The truck driver was uninjured.Road closures were put in place to allow investigation work to continue. Police have appealed for any witnesses or anyone with dashcam footage to come forward. Source link

BBCDrivers have complained of traffic queues at Royal Bournemouth Hospital car parkA hospital criticised for its parking provision during a major building project says its new car park is hoped to be ready by summer 2026.Visitors and outpatients to Royal Bournemouth Hospital (RBH) have complained of traffic queues, a lack of parking spaces and poor lighting.There are currently 412 public parking places at the hospital. The new car park would provide an additional 150.University Hospitals Dorset said it…

A woman has died after a fire broke out at a house in the early hours of the morning. Crews were sent to the terraced property on High West Street in Weymouth, Dorset, at about 03:45 GMT.A woman, whose age has not yet been released, was pronounced dead at the scene. Dorset Police said her next of kin had been informed. The force said the woman's death was currently being treated as unexplained and a fire service investigation…

Fire has wrecked a derelict bungalow near a hospital. Crews were called to Fairmile Road near Christchurch Hospital, Dorset, shortly before 19:20 GMT on Thursday.Road closures were put in place while crews from seven stations spent two hours tackling the blaze.No one was injured and the fire was out by 21:30. Officers returned on Friday morning to reinspect the scene. Source link

Patrick HughesandCharlotte Andrews,South of EnglandBBCThe two Purbeck grave slabs, from the 13th Century, are thought to be the first of their kind ever found in a shipwreck A grave slab raised from the site of a 13th Century shipwreck has gone on display in a museum for the first time.The Mortar Wreck, so-called for its cargo of stone tools used to grind food, was found about a mile (1.6km) off the Dorset coast in Studland Bay, Isle of…

A sailor on a round-the-world voyage died after becoming entangled around a powered winch while at sea on the Solent, an accident report has said.Lyall Babington, 74, was skippering his yacht Mollie from his native New Zealand when the accident happened off the Needles on the way to Poole on 5 August.A preliminary report by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) said he caught his hand in the rope and was "progressively pulled tighter onto the winch drum".It…