MORE public consultation is needed before county councillors give the Weymouth Relief Road the go-ahead, planning chiefs have decided.

Members of Dorset County Council's planning committee followed officers' recommendations to defer the decision on whether to approve the proposed Orange Route that would connect Weymouth and Dorchester.

A report written by the council's director for environment, Miles Butler, said councillors should await the results of an extended period of public consultation on the proposed road that would bypass the Ridgeway section of the A354 and cut through rural areas of Lodmoor and Bincombe Valley.

The report said the deferral was also necessary to allow councillors enough time to make a site visit and for a public participation meeting to take place.

Principal planning officer Chris Stokes told committee members that the proposed Orange Route would, if given the go-ahead, cut through Two Mile Coppice between Littlemoor and Lodmoor.

Mr Stokes added that this would create the need for an ecological mitigation area' - a man-made rural area - to be created nearby to offset the loss of the natural woodland.

Mr Stokes presented aerial photographs and plans to committee members and explained in detail the impact the proposed road-building scheme would have.

He told members the route would cut through fields that are home to ancient barrows to the east of the Ridgeway, bypass the hairpin bend at the opposite end of the road and continue down to Littlemoor.

He warned members the route would involve constructing a road through Two Mile Coppice, the removal of the roundabout currently at Littlemoor and the creation of two new ones close to that area.

He also said the route would cut through a residential area of Littlemoor and could have a significant impact' on residents in terms of noise and other pollution from traffic.

Councillor Harry Burden, who represents Broadwey, said: "Over the past 70 years there have been various schemes that have almost come to fruition but for some reason have never made it.

"This plan, in all honesty, probably is the most environmentally friendly of all the schemes."

Councillor David Crowhurst, representing Linden Lea, said: "I welcome this opportunity for a public consultation.

"This sort of presentation is extremely helpful and extremely worthwhile."

After councillors voted to accept the proposed deferral, Mr Stokes told them he would individually send them an itinerary detailing when the site visit would take place.