Weekly round-up: Five stories you may have missed

A story about a tent pitched near the edge of cliffs on the Jurassic Coast was among our most read stories this week in Dorset.

A variety of local issues were featured on the BBC News website, BBC Radio Solent and South Today.

We have picked five of them to keep you up to date.

Failings over teen electrocuted on railway - report

A 15-year-old girl was electrocuted on a railway line after communication failures involving police and the track operator, a report has said.

Police officers, responding to a trespass report in March 2023, told their control room they could not see anyone from a bridge.

Track power was then switched back on, despite the lack of a detailed search or oversight by police supervisors, Pan-Dorset Safeguarding Children’s Partnership (PDSCP) said.

Tent seen near cliff edge despite rockfall warnings

Campers have been warned to stay away from a clifftop prone to sudden rockfalls after a tent was spotted close to the edge.

The cliffs at East Beach in the West Bay area of Dorset's Jurassic Coast saw three rockfalls in quick succession earlier this year - and the coastal path at the top has been shut.

But photographer Daryl Gill was using his drone to capture the scenery when he spotted a person in their tent just yards from the edge.

School set to close over falling pupil numbers

Parkfield School entrance sign
The trust in charge of Parkfield School said it was "not possible to run a school that is less than half full" [BBC]

A school has announced plans to close due to "falling and unsustainable numbers of pupils".

Reach South Academy Trust told parents on Friday that the Department for Education agreed with its recommendation that Parkfield School - situated next to Bournemouth Airport in Hurn - should close.

While the school would shut to most students at the end of the current academic year, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council said children currently in Year 10 would be able to finish their GCSEs at the site.

Quicker action 'may not have saved' drowned pair

Two children who drowned in the sea off Bournemouth beach may not have been saved even if lifeguards had acted sooner, a coroner has said.

Joe Abbess, 17, from Southampton, and 12-year-old Sunnah Khan, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, both died after getting into trouble in the water on 31 May 2023.

A pre-inquest review into their deaths was told there was insufficient evidence to establish exactly when they died.

Dorset coroner Rachael Griffin said it was impossible to say whether the RNLI could have acted more quickly.

Verge cutting halted to save orchids from the chop

A council has paused verge cutting along a road after two species of orchids were found growing.

Dorset Council said its greenspace team was working along the A354 Easton Lane on Portland when they came across bee and pyramidal orchids.

The council said cutting on the road's verges had been temporarily paused to allow the bright flowers to finish flowering and go to seed.

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