Verwood

Gaia Pope was found dead 11 days after being reported missing from her home in Dorset in 2017.

Since it was built in 2012, almost three quarters of a million people have taken a ride on the Jurassic Skyline to enjoy  panoramic views of the Dorset coast and landscape.

But with declining visitor numbers in recent years,the operator Merlin Entertainments said that the £3.5 million Weymouth attraction is no longer financially viable, so it's been sold to an overseas company. 

Two years ago a mechanical failure resulted in 14 people including an 11 week old baby getting stuck for several hours in the rotating gondola at the top of the tower. The group was winched to safety by a rescue helicopter.

The permanent closure of the Jurassic Skyline was announced in August this year. Residents and visitors have expressed mixed feelings to BBC Radio Solent reporter Laurence Herdman about its demise.

The site will be cleared and made suitable for car parking. Depending on winter weather interruptions work is expected to be completed by the end of February 2020. Weymouth peninsula will remain open throughout the work with alternative pedestrian access put in place as necessary.

Clare walks with Jon Whitley  and James (Jay) La Bouchardiere, two childhood friends born and bred in Dorset who moved back there after university and began playing folk music.   Jon’s father had run a folk club so it was in his blood so to speak as is the Dorset countryside.
When they started writing songs it was a natural process to incorporate the landscape and folklore of the county and this eventually led to them producing a book of the walks that they have enjoyed and written songs about.  They perform as a duo called Ninebarrow, a hill near Corfe Castle.
They’re walking one of their favourite and oldest walks of coastline, a circular walk beginning and ending in Worth Matravers. OS Ref SY 974 777

Producer: Maggie Ayre

A diversion around a 50m stretch of roadworks in Dorset could send lorry drivers on a 41-mile detour.

Josh Goodwin aims to win the British Grasstrack Championships 500cc sidecar title in memory of his dad.

Train manager David Shelley has won fans for his "outrageously enthusiastic" messages.

Dorset Police will receive an extra 50 officers in year one of Operation Uplift programme.

But Chief Constable James Vaughan has told BBC Radio Solent: "one of our challenges going forward will be attracting sufficiently skilled people to come and join Dorset police".

The recruitment target for Dorset Police is 50 new officers as part of year one in the 6,000 national Operation Uplift scheme.
This figure will be in addition to the existing planned recruitment for officers that Dorset Police already had in place.

On Tuesday 8 October 2019 the National Policing Board announced how year one of the Government’s officer uplift programme would be allocated across all of the forces in England and Wales.

Chief Constable James Vaughan said: “This is a good start and it will bring a welcome relief to our stretched workforce. 
“These much needed extra officers are great news for the communities that we serve in Dorset. I would like to reassure them that the new officers will be carefully invested for maximum effect and we have already developed firm plans to recruit these officers. “The extra officers will assist the Force in moving from good to outstanding in the way we deliver services.”

Dorset makes up just under one per cent of the national policing budget, and is the third lowest funded police force in the country.

Speaking to BBC Radio Solent the Chief Constable said: "Police officers' starting pay is quite low - we will give them a free degree over three years and once qualified their salary moves to a fairly reasonable level fairly quickly, but the starting salary is quite low and I worry that will put off people, particularly older people from coming into policing."

The uplift numbers for both year two and year three of the scheme are yet to be confirmed.