WEST Dorset MP Oliver Letwin is backing calls for Miles Cross to be considered as a possible site for Bridport's waste transfer station.

The shadow chancellor has thrown his weight behind the idea after hearing concerns that the county's chosen location at Gore Cross could lead to traffic chaos.

St Andrew's Road and District Residents' Association has warned that the estimated extra 500 vehicle movements it would generate each day would bring the already busy approach roads close to saturation point.

They say that any waste transfer depot needs direct access off the A35 which can cope with the extra traffic.

This gives the county two main choices - the previously suggested Stoney Lane quarry near Shipton Gorge or a site they have identified at Miles Cross which would be accessed by a new roundabout.

At the weekend officials from the Association were joined by Dr Letwin to view both locations.

Afterwards Chairman Simon Williams said: "The road infrastructure at Stoney Lane is already in place. It is the old A35 route. Users, the majority of whom would come from the west, would turn left to access the site and return under the A35 bridge with a left turn on to the A35. The only vehicles requiring to turn right across the A 35 would be lorries returning east to go to Warmwell.

"We do not believe that this site has been properly investigated by Dorset County Council or SITA."

Mr Williams said the other alternative at Miles Cross would involve the building of a roundabout. This would solve not only the area's on-going road safety problems but also provide access to the "hidden" waste management site via a road to the south.

"This previously not considered site is immediately opposite the Miles Cross junction at Symondsbury," said Mr Williams.

"It lies in a hidden valley south of the junction. It is far more central for users than many others that have been considered. It is a sloping site favoured by the developers. One house, set behind woodland, is 200 metres from the southern boundary. One other house overlooks the site which is a quarter of a mile west of the western boundary. Both houses are higher than the possible Waste Management Centre.

"We consider that this is the most concealed place for the centre accessible from the A35 near Bridport.

"We have asked Oliver Letwin to approach the Highways Authority and get a roundabout in place at Miles Cross accessing this waste management site and we are grateful to him for taking this important matter seriously.

"We hope it can be resolved in the best interest of landscape and traffic exclusion from residential areas."

Dr Letwin said: "I am impressed by the arguments made by the St Andrews Road Action Group about the traffic problems that they are likely to encounter if the waste transfer station is sited at Gore Cross.

"I am now working to see what I can do to persuade the Highways Agency, and other relevant authorities, to put a new roundabout at Miles Cross.

"This would make abundant sense in terms of road safety for people living near Miles Cross, and for road users using that part of the A35. "It would also remove the main obstacle to the possibility of siting the waste transfer station at that location."