WEYMOUTH'S traffic management plans may be suffering from 'timeline drift.'

Borough councillors were told that the county council could have lost sight of some of the plans as it prepares for the new unitary council.

Cllr Mike Byatt told the borough council management committee: “We are still waiting for Dorset County Council on the traffic management plan. I am worried about timeline drift on that,” he said.

Cllr Colin Huckle, one of the borough's two representatives on the shadow executive body for the new council, said: “I am told they are updating it. There has been plans for Custom House Quay and Trinity Street and making traffic flow differently – but nothing seems to happen.”

He said that he had been told that the 'number one priority' was improving traffic between Weymouth and Dorchester before anyone even looked at a number of local schemes which were awaiting finance agreements to start them.

“The western corridor is not even in their thinking” he said.

Cllr Richard Nickinson said he hoped that Weymouth and Portland would benefit from similar parking schemes enjoyed by West Dorset when the new council came into being.

He said that the two-hour shoppers permit in West Dorset should be adopted across rural Dorset under the new Dorset Council.

“It is much cheaper to park in Dorchester and go shopping than it is in Weymouth. I hope we will harmonise these schemes...it would do a lot to encourage local residents to stay in the borough and shop.”