Local news for the Dorset Coast powered by the Echo

Merge in turn, or 'zip merge,' is a common system where drivers use both lanes until a closure point, then alternate merging.

A petition calling for the tax-free Personal Allowance to be increased from £12,570 to £18,000 is closing in on 50,000 signatures, as support continues to grow among taxpayers frustrated by years of frozen tax thresholds.

A historic steamship is set to make a summer holiday return.

BCP Council is going to be considering a proposal to offering meeting rooms and facilities at no cost to parish and town councils.

Families in Wimborne are invited to a wealth of local support, activities and connections at Wimborne Unlocked, a free Community Day hosted by Dorset Council.

Diverse Abilities, Dorset's disability charity, welcomed visitors to The Treehouse in Hurn as part of the National Garden Scheme, raising more than £750.

A BBC Question Time-style panel will form the centrepiece of the fourth Dorset COP, taking place at Kingston Maurward Coastland College on November 14.

11-year-old Alexandra Hill from Bournemouth is currently undertaking a 350 mile bike ride from London to Paris to raise money for The Gurkha Welfare Trust

The festival launched around the turn of the millennium, but 2006 marked its coming of age.

A 68 year old Christchurch resident is preparing to climb Africa's highest peak to raise funds for Bournemouth Town Pastors and the BCP NHS Hospitals Chaplaincy team.

Residents have mixed feelings about a Poole restaurant’s bid to extend its licence.

A woman who admitted drinking alcohol before getting behind the wheel was found to be below the legal drink-drive limit.

A motorbike has been seized from a rider committing a number of driving offences in north Dorset

Hundreds of people took to the River Stour in inflatables as Dorset Dinghy Day returned for 2026.

BCP Council is conducting an annual electoral register canvass over the next few months.

Two men were made to leave a holiday park in Poole following reports of 'drug use'.

Inside or out, a classical concert is always about more than just the music.

A pensioner who was previously found with 75,000 indecent images of children has been jailed.

This is the story of the long goodbye - the closure of Dorset's railway network

A brave woman has spoken up about her experience of being spiked — which she claims happened at Barbara’s Bier Haus in Bournemouth.

Purbeck Cider launches People’s Choice cider in Dorset, donating £1 per litre sold to Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance. Community-grown apples support charity.

Plans for a new 'build your own' waterfront home with panoramic views have been approved for a site in Dorset

Dorset is the location for Mike Leigh's Play For Today, Nuts in May, which is free to watch on BBC iPlayer

A YouTube video provides an insightful look at Brownsea Island in 1962.

Only Fools and Horses repeats are as popular as ever this Christmas - but did you know that the classic BBC comedy was not once, but twice filmed in Dorset?

Sandbanks Ferry staff were 'verbally abused' by passengers during a temporary suspension.

Hundreds of jobs are to be created at a holiday park as part of a major nationwide investment.

SHOULD there be a tourist tax in Purbeck – the “Purbeck Pound”?