ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners are today poised to start legal action to stop construction of the Weymouth relief road.

Friends of the Earth wants a judicial review of the decision by Dorset County Council to grant planning permission for the scheme.

If successful the action could delay or even jeopardise the entire project.

The council has pledged to fight the action but admits current delays are already pushing the cost of the scheme higher.

At a meeting tomorrow councillors will be told the overall cost now stands above £84 million - up from the original £55 million.

Gita Parihar, a spokesman for Friends of the Earth, said the group had two main objections to the scheme.

She said: "Basically the Government Office for the South West was about to serve the council with an Article 14 document which would have referred the planning application to the Secretary of State.

"But the council granted permission 24 hours before the documentation arrived.

"We also object on the grounds that the council ignored a statutory requirement to consult with the South West Regional Assembly.

"At the moment we are looking to take legal action but are waiting for the council to respond to the letters we have sent them.

"If the courts said the decision made by the council was unlawful the council would be required to go back and reconsider their plans."

Matthew Piles, Weymouth relief road project manager, says in a report to the cabinet that the council intends to fight any legal action.

The report states: 'In responding firmly to the threatened proceedings reference has been made to the very full report and environment information put to the planning committee.

'It has been specifically denied that the application for the road was of such strategic significance to the region as to justify a referral to the regional assembly.' The report also says the Secretary of State would not have called in the plans for a public inquiry - even if the council had received Article 14 documents.

The report says the council would normally be asked to contribute 25 per cent of any cost increase for the road above the original budget of £55 million.

It adds: 'The required contribution from the county council would therefore be in the region of £7.5 million.

'This figure will however be subject to negotiation with Department for Transport.'