AN UPLIFTING roadshow will call in at four West Dorset towns on Saturday to protest the building of new council offices.

The Stop Council Offices Now (SCON) campaign will use helium-filled balloons rising to 22 metres to show the height of the four-storey, £9.7million offices that will become West Dorset District Council’s new HQ in Dorchester town centre.

Illustrations will be on display to show the length of the building, which will be built in Charles Street.

SCON supporter John Grantham said the roadshow will demonstrate the scale of the development.

He added: “When we measured out the distance to be taken up by these offices on-site at Charles Street we were truly astonished – the developer has left hardly a spare inch and we must illustrate this.

“In the absence of a scaled model being provided by WDDC to show the public and councillors what the effect will be, balloons are the best way we can think of to truly illustrate how the building would almost block out the trees in South Walks from view and dominate the landscape across the whole of the back of the current car park.”

The roadshow will be in Beaminster at Market Square at 10am, in Bridport outside the arts centre by Bucky Doo Square at 10am, Sherborne at 11am by the Conduit at the bottom of Cheap Street and Dorchester at 11am at the South Walks end of the Charles Street car park.