Town of the Future

Stopped off in Poundbury on my way through Dorchester today and could not escape just how much this urban development on the outskirts of Dorset’s county town has grown since I was last here.
Poundbury is the new town being created as a thriving community in itself to guidelines from the Duchy of Cornwall and a vision of a new community by the Prince of Wales.
In fact the Prince ws here little more than a month ago with the Queen,  the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duchess of Cornwall to see progress and for the Queen to unveil a statue in the aptly named Queen Mother Square, part of the complex.
Currently, the community is home to around 2,500 people living in different types of housing and it provides employment for around 2,000 people working in 170 businesses.
Development began back in the mid-1990s and although I have driven past it is probably  around 15 years since I took time to visit Poundbury itself.
It  is now made up of town houses, cottages, shops and light industry following he Prince’s vision to create a community that challenged then current thinking in town planning circles. I could help be impressed by the extent it has grown since I was last here, and indeed the extent to which development is still taking shape in a community where pedestrians appear to have priority over cars.

They say it will be complete in about another eight years by which time it will be home to about 6,000 people in 2,500 homes.