I HAVE been reading with interest the recent Dorset Echo articles regarding problems associated with the junction at the top of Boot Hill, with local residents campaigning for the traffic lights to be scrapped and replaced with a mini roundabout.

I am a regular user of the junction and I fully understand the residents’ concerns regarding traffic pollution along that stretch of road, but Dorset County Council continues to state that there are no plans to change the traffic signals and to calculate the cost of these changes would be difficult without further research.

I have an idea. Why not put covers over the lights, fix “Roundabout” and “New Junction Ahead” signs to the posts, then simply paint a circle in the middle of the junction. Give the revised layout a twelve months trial to at least see if the change does, in fact, improve the traffic flow and thereby reduce the pollution problem.

This change could be carried out almost immediately (subject to any rules that DCC has to comply with) and at minimal cost to DCC who would, I suspect, actually save money overall during the trial period by having the lights switched off. And DCC would not have to carry out any extensive traffic surveys to justify whether or not to implement a permanent change as they would have the results of the trial in their hand.

It’s clear that traffic volumes through the junction (and along the Lynch Lane route to Portland) have increased significantly since the Boot Hill lights were installed in 2012. But that’s another story.

Barry Lambert Wyke Regis