A LEADING anti-relief road campaigner has said the public is being misled into believing the route is essential for the Olympics.

Howard Thomas, chairman of the Dorset branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said the road was not essential to the games and was not part of the transport measures for Weymouth submitted to the IOC.

Mr Thomas said he was tired of hearing politicians associating the relief road with the Olympics because the two were not connected.

"The plans for the Olympic Games are the complete opposite," he said, and added that he believed the public were being misled on the issue.

"The fact is that the Olympic committee did not specify the relief road was needed for the games.

"Their policies are to discourage car transport, not encourage it," he added.

Mr Thomas said although the London bid team had informed the IOC a relief road could be built, it had not been a crux issue.

In a written statement Wilben Short, head of transport for the London Organising Committee of the Games, said: 'At no time was the relief road ever regarded as critical to the success of the Games.'

He added: 'One of our transport objectives is to encourage maximum possible use of public transport.'

Mr Short said suitable arrangements could be put in place 'irrespective of whether the relief road is built.'

Mr Thomas, who lives in Bridport, said that the three transport measures submitted to the IOC by the London bid team were extra funding for rail service improvements between London and Weymouth and a temporary park and ride facility for 1,000 cars in an unspecified location.

The third measure was a reduction in the number of parking facilities from 7,000 to 500 for the duration of the games.

Mr Thomas said the big Olympic transport issue was how people moved between Weymouth and Portland and around the town during the games, not how they arrived.