SOME of West Dorset’s most picturesque villages could be protected with new conservation areas.

Villages including Chilforme, Seatown, Chideock, Yetminster and Buckland Newton could all benefit from new or extended conservation areas to preserve and enhance their unique charms.

West Dorset District Council is launching a public consultation, which will give local people a chance to have their views on the future of their village and proposals to extend existing conservation areas in West Dorset as well as creating new ones.

Mark Hammick, who owns the Gaggle of Geese pub in Buckland Newton with his wife Emily, said: “Buckland Newton is a marvellous place to live.

“If you were from outside the area and you wanted a picturesque Dorset village to move to there is nowhere better.”

Mr Hammick said that conservation areas could be a vital way of preserving the character of the village but said he was concerned that in the draft proposals some areas of the village where there were newer housing developments were not covered.

He said: “Conservation areas are great as they are limitations to control development within a village.

“On the latest map they have included the Gaggle of Geese but they have excluded all of the new houses built on the old orchards nearby.”

Mick Kelson runs the Rose Cottage Bed and Breakfast in Chideock with his wife Sue.

He said he would be very interested in looking at the proposals to extend the local conservation area.

Mr Kelson said: “Although it does have a main road running through it the village has still got a lot of character.

“We obviously rely on tourism so maintaining that character is in our interests but it’s also in the interests of the public in general and I’m all for conservation.”

The conservation areas give special protection to places of special historical or architectural interest so they can be preserved.

Leader of West Dorset District Council Robert Gould said: “We are lucky to have so many beautiful market towns and villages in West Dorset. Conservation areas highlight what makes these communities special.”