CAMPAIGNERS claim a Government decision not to call for a public inquiry over Weymouth's £77 million relief road could threaten landscape and wildlife.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England condemned the decision over what they termed 'a controversial, highly damaging road scheme'.

They said not calling it in for a public inquiry 'could threaten our finest landscapes and rarest habitats throughout England'.

They added that the road will 'gouge a deep wound in the high chalk hills of the Dorset Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), obliterate part of an Ancient Woodland and will generate a significant quantity of carbon dioxide in its first year of use alone'.

CPRE rural policy head Tom Oliver said: "This is a shocking decision which shows a breathtaking disregard for the Government's own stated aim to protect nationally protected landscapes and wildlife sites.

"It is difficult to see how any landscape, however special, or any habitat, however precious, is safe when the Government refuses even to acknowledge that a serious conflict exists between a new road like this and the treasured sites that lie in its path."

CPRE, together with other leading environmental groups, have long made it clear to the Government that they feel the Weymouth scheme would be 'immensely damaging' and that even the economic case for the road is weak.

Mr Oliver said: "One reason advanced for building this road was that it was needed to support the sailing events at the 2012 Olympics which will take place at Portland over a few weeks.

"So much for a 'Green Olympics' when the 2012 event is used to justify environmental destruction and increased carbon emissions on this scale."