DORSET residents are invited to have their say on the names of four new roundabouts on the Wey-mouth Relief Road.

Among the names short-listed by Dorset County Council for one of the roundabouts is Veasta – the name of a mythical sea monster supposedly spotted off Weymouth several times in 1457.

The four new roundabouts include two in Littlemoor and two at the southern end of the construction scheme near the Manor roundabout.

Local schoolchildren, relief road construction workers and county council staff submitted over 70 names for consideration.

Now an online poll is giving local residents a chance to choose their favourite names from a shortlist for each roundabout.

The suggestions were scored by a judging panel against three criteria – relevance, originality and impact – with the top names being put forward for a public vote.

The judging panel was advised on local features and relevant connections and conducted online research to assist them in creating the shortlist.

A county council spokesman said: “A couple of over-arching themes became apparent through the entries, namely the Olympics, as Weymouth and Portland will host the sailing events in 2012, and the Vikings, after a burial pit of beheaded Vikings was found during construction works.

“The panel was advised that Olympic references will be plentiful throughout the area and that it was more important to reflect longstanding local themes in the roundabout names than the Olympic connection.

“The panel was also informed that the Viking connection is likely to be commemorated elsewhere along the road.

“For these reasons, the panel did not select entries which made reference to these two themes.”

Dorset County Council’s cabinet member for transport, Coun Peter Finney, said: “Since construction began, the roundabouts have been referred to using their location and normally construction engineers name a roundabout based on where it is or something near by, which can lead to some rather dull names.

“Weymouth is rich in history and has the best in both sea and countryside, including being on the Jurassic Coast and being surrounding by an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

“We wanted these, plus the amazing archaeological and geological finds from the road building itself, to inspire local people to choose their favourite name from the shortlists.”

The shortlisted names for roundabout A are: Stone, Jurassic, Permian and Triassic after the area’s geology.

The shortlisted names for roundabout B, which is near Iron Age burial mounds, are: Bincombe Bump, Iron Age, Long barrow and Southdown.

The shortlisted names for roundabout C, which has a sea view, are: Spinnaker, Sea View, Pilgrims (in memory of the pilgrims who sailed to the New World from Weymouth) and Veasta (after a mythical sea monster).

The shortlisted names for roundabout D, which is next to Lodmoor nature reserve, are: Fisher, Harriers, Park and Reserve.

To view the shortlists and vote online, visit www.dorsetforyou.com/weymouthreliefroad The closing date for votes is midnight tonight.