WEST Dorset MP Oliver Letwin has launched a last minute bid to halt the Chideock roadworks which are set to bring misery to thousands of motorists for up to three months.

The Shadow Home Secretary is urging road operators Connect to suspend the project - due to start a week on Monday - and come up with a less disruptive scheme.

Under the present plan the A35 through Chideock will be reduced to a single carriageway until just before Christmas while the road is resurfaced and new drains installed.

Traffic will be allowed through from the west. But only local people with special passes will be allowed through the village eastwards - and they will have to endure a lengthy wait.

Eastbound drivers without passes will face up to a 35-mile detour with diversions as far back as Honiton guiding them along the A303 to Yeovil to pick up the A37 to Dorchester and back onto the A35. Stop signs will be put up at the Fernhill Roundabout at Charmouth where motorists will be advised to turn back.

The route through Chideock will re-open to two-way traffic at weekends, however.

But Mr Letwin says he has been swamped with complaints about the plan and is calling for a re-think.

He said: "In recent weeks as an increasing number of people have come to understand more about the planned roadworks at Chideock and their effects, both on those within Chideock and to those living to the east and west of it, I have been inundated with concerns.

"I have to say that I am beginning to share those concerns. I really wonder whether the three-month programme is the right way to approach this matter, or whether there are means by which a shorter programme of works could take place on a less disruptive basis.

"I have today written to Connect asking for a re-think."

Yesterday, in a brief statement, a spokesman for Connect said: "We are communicating with Mr Letwin regarding his concerns."