GREEN campaigners have backed calls for a public meeting about Weymouth’s traffic system.

Council chiefs are considering the idea of a summit amid concerns about the traffic lights which replaced roundabouts in the town centre.

Now the South and West Dorset Green Party has said it would welcome a public meeting to discuss whether the traffic system works and how it can be improved.

The Green party presented the findings of its own survey of 500 residents in Rodwell to the Dorset County Council in May.

It also challenged some of the findings in the council’s own report on the Weymouth Transport Package.

A Green party spokesman said: “South and West Dorset Green Party would strongly welcome a public meeting to discuss whether Weymouth’s traffic system works and how it can be improved.”

Some 71 per cent of respondents in the Green party survey said that the Asda and Boot Hill junctions did not work, while 11 per cent said that they did work.

There were also concerns about Cross Road and Everest Road being used as ‘rat runs’.

Other concerns were the ‘no left turns’ at Wyke Road and Chickerell Road as well as air pollution on Boot Hill. The Green party is campaigning for more efforts to tackle air pollution, which it says remains around the legally permitted maximum on Boot Hill.

It has written to First and South West Coaches to ask what they are doing to address the emissions of their bus fleets but has also warned against council cuts to bus subsidies.

It said that the cuts will force more people into their cars and exacerbate air pollution, as well as hitting the elderly, young and poorer residents of Dorset hardest.

Go online to westandsouthdorset.greenparty.org.uk for more details and to sign a petition against cuts.

THE Green party comments come after the Echo reported calls from residents for a rethink of aspects of the traffic system.

They included former Park District community group leader Ken Whatley who has concerns, particularly about King’s Street.

Dorset County Council chief executive Debbie Ward already said that the authority is considering a meeting about the roads.

She said: “We are actively considering the request to hold a public meeting about the traffic light system in Weymouth, including discussions with individuals who have expressed concerns, to see what could be achieved.”