A COUPLE living in the last house on Dorchester Road remain opposed to the new relief road despite their new-found peace and quiet.

John and Gwendoline Hampton have lived in the red brick house closest to the railway bridge for 34 years and can now sit in their summer house in the back garden and listen to the birds.

But Mr Hampton, 87, said he missed seeing the foxes and deer in the field opposite and described the new road as ‘Dorset’s Berlin Wall’.

He said: “It’s unnecessary and a scandalous waste of money as the existing road should have been updated.”

Like many Mr Hampton believes Dorset County Council should have tried replacing the Littlemoor Road traffic lights with a roundabout.

He added: “We’ve lived here so long that as the noise from the traffic grew we’ve grown accustomed to it.

“It was nothing to see three or four deer here but they’ve gone.

“We’re dead against the devastation they’ve caused by building the road.”

Mrs Hampton, 89, added: “The peace and quiet is nice but I would sooner see it as it was before.”

l KEN Jones and his wife are trying to sell their three-bedroom bungalow on the corner of Chapel Lane and Dorchester Road.

They put it on the market for £275,000 and said they were told by one estate agent that the price would go up by £20,000 due to the relief road.

But they have since knocked £30,000 off the asking price and are growing frustrated waiting for a sale.

Mr Jones, 68, said: “We’ve not got the screaming ambulances going past now.

“I counted 17 one morning but now there’s more of a tendency for cars to speed past.”

Mr Jones fears prospective buyers may be waiting to see the effect of the slip roads being completed to join Dorchester Road with the relief road at the Ridgeway.

He added: “Several people came here before the road opened and heard how noisy it was and went to look for somewhere quieter. We told them it would be quieter. The ambulances and police going past were almost making me ill.”