Local news for the Dorset Coast powered by the Echo

A unique Coffee Rave is coming to Bournemouth on October 1, featuring live DJs, great coffee and fundraising for Diverse Abilities. Find out how to get tickets.

Respected launches new RSHE lessons for secondary schools, covering online safety, digital privacy and coercive behaviour for Years 7-11, helping students.

Bournemouth will become the heart of romance fiction this autumn as it hosts the return of the Romance Writing Festival.

People with Parkinson’s can join a free Pickleball taster session in Mudeford, Dorset, on September 16, with equipment provided and all abilities welcome.

The River Stour and Christchurch Harbour matter. They are where children sail, families spend time together, and people connect with nature. I love spending time there myself.

A Dorset Metro, improvements to accessibility, and relocating stations have been included as part of a long-term plan to improve train services in Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole.

Two young people who were clinging to a buoy in the main shipping channel of Poole Harbour were rescued from the ocean by Poole Lifeboat crew last night.

The following cases were heard at Weymouth Magistrates' Court:

Women will be offered legal guidance at a new festival focused on wellbeing and personal growth.

A £480,000 resurfacing scheme on Poole Road in Westbourne will begin on September 14, with work lasting eight weekdays.

Drivers are being warned of five nights of overnight closures on Fountain Way in Christchurch from September 14 to 18 while resurfacing and highway maintenance works are carried out.

A stolen vehicle has been recovered as part of ongoing efforts to tackle rural crime.

Dorset Police are appealing for information after burglars removed and stole a residential shed door on Foxholes Road at 12.59 a.m. on Friday 11 September.

After 35 years in the hospitality industry, Steve and Cherry Dyer have called last orders!

Surfers in Bournemouth are calling for urgent consultation over planned pier works, warning the removal of lower platforms could damage wave quality, harm tourism and affect the local community.

Bossa Nova jazz will take centre stage in a relaxed café setting.

Mystery surrounds the sudden closure of Isabel’s brasserie in Penn Hill, Poole, leaving local diners baffled and looking for answers

Officers have seized a motocross bike after it was ridden illegally in a public park in Ferndown.

A lifeboat crew was called out after reports of a capsized sailing dinghy.

Motorists face a diversion more than 13- miles-long when a Hampshire road is closed for drainage repairs.

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”?