Prince Charles marks Poundbury 20th anniversary

Poundbury was designed with the help of Prince Charles to put the needs of people before cars

The Prince of Wales has visited Poundbury to meet some of the people involved in creating it two decades ago.

The town, on the outskirts of Dorchester, was built on Duchy of Cornwall land and designed to put the needs of people before cars.

A reception for about 180 guests was held at the Jubilee Hall to mark the 20th anniversary of the development.

Architects, planners and engineers were among those who attended.

Poundbury was designed by Leon Krier in the late-1980s and building began in 1993.

The development was intended to reduce car dependency and promote greener living while using designs and materials relevant to Dorset.

It is already home to about 2,000 people and 140 businesses, employing about 1,600 people.

The town is expected to be fully completed in 2025 when it is intended to house about 5,000 people and provide 2,000 jobs.

During his visit, Prince Charles also toured Poundbury and met a family who bought their home through a shared ownership scheme.

Before arriving in Poundbury, the prince visited the Dorset Archives Service at Dorset History Centre in Dorchester, which holds archives relating to 1,000 years of the county's history.

At the centre, he helped staff complete conservation work on legal archives, gluing protective linings on to rare 18th Century jury lists.

Conservation officer Rebecca Donnan said: "He's so used to working with paint brushes he was able to follow my directions easily.

"I said to him, 'this is a nice hogs hair brush' and he agreed."

Charles also saw some of the treasures of Dorset's written history, including the Women's Institute War Record book from after World War Two, and was shown the Fordington Tithe Map from 1840, which featured the site on which Poundbury was built.