A CAMPAIGN has been launched to return the welcome ‘pineapples’ to the gateway to Weymouth.

Weymouth Civic Society wants to see the twin features on the Ridgeway before the Olympics – after claiming they were ‘banished’ to a car park.

The stone pineapples, symbols of wealth and good fortune, were a gift to the town from Weymouth Rotary Club in 2005 and placed next to the A354 on the Ridgeway.

They were removed when work on the new relief road began and kept in storage – and have since reappeared at the entrance to the park and ride site at Mount Pleasant, about four miles away from their original position.

Civic society chiefs are not happy such prominent symbols guard the entrance to a car park and believe they should be returned to where they would have a bigger audience.

Not satisfied with the response from Dorset County Council on why they can’t be moved back, the society is rallying support by writing to Rotarians, borough councillors and South Dorset MP Richard Drax.

Society secretary Gerald Mabb said: “We were dismayed to see the welcome pineapples had been erected at the entrance to the park and ride site.

“We feel we should welcome all to the borough, not just the minority who use this car park.

“We were assured the pineapples would be replaced as near as possible to their original site, but on the new road.”

Mr Mabb said the group’s chairman Terry Landsbert wrote to the county council demanding an explanation when the pineapples turned up at Mount Pleasant.

The council’s environment director Miles Butler said siting the pineapples and their plinths on the relief road near the new welcome sign would create a traffic hazard.

Mr Mabb said the society would be happy if the pineapples were put at the top of the Ridgeway north of the new bridge.

Although outside the official borough boundary, they could be placed back from the road so as not to create a hazard.

“The pineapples have become a feature of the town and should not be banished to a car park,” Mr Mabb said.

The civic society also believes the welcome sign erected by the county council should include the borough’s coat of arms and its twin towns.

Borough councillor and local Rotarian Bill White supports the campaign.

He said: “People have become very fond of the pineapples and residents I have spoken to agree they should be at the entrance to the town.”

President of Weymouth Rotary Club Roy Bowley said: “We told the authority we weren’t happy with the new position of the pineapples and their excuse was that it would impinge on the highway.

“We would support a campaign to see them on the Ridgeway. The original intention was that they welcomed people to Weymouth.”

Spokesman for Melcombe Regis Rotary Club Ian Brooke said: “The pineapples should be back on the Ridgeway.”

South Dorset MP Richard Drax said he will investigate when he receives the letter from the civic society.

• Weymouth and Portland Borough councillors agreed the pineapples were missed.

At last Thursday night’s full council meeting members decided the matter of relocating the pineapples should be taken again to Dorset County Council.

Pru Bollam, President of the Weymouth Civic Society, asked councillors to help relocate the pineapples to their original position.

She said: “Where they stand now, it is just like they are an afterthought.”

“We have been let down and now we need this council to help put the pineapples back where they belong.”

Councillor Christine James said: “I actually miss seeing their hats at Easter and Christmas.”

RELOCATION WOULD BE DIFFICULT

DORSET County Council director for environment Miles Butler said: “Relocating the pineapples and their substantial plinths along the Weymouth Relief Road would present a number of difficulties.

“The area is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with restrictions on the amount of road signing, and the road itself has fast moving traffic where the national speed limit applies. Road safety guidelines would require protective crash barriers around structures in this location, which would detract from the intended effect of the pineapples.

“A large new welcome sign has been positioned just after the new bridge on the Ridgeway, and provides a distinct ‘gateway’ to the borough.

“A number of locations for the pineapples were carefully considered. It was felt that they would be displayed to better effect on the approach to the Mount Pleasant park and ride site.”