Extra parking restrictions for Dorchester’s Lubbecke Way have failed to materialise – despite being promised by Dorset county council in September.

The road is now the access route to and from the town’s household recycling centre, but is clogged by town centre workers who use it for free parking during the week.

Residents say they fear for the safety of children and older residents with some claiming that their cars have been damaged several times,

Ward councillor Stella Jones has again called for action over the experimental traffic order which was claimed would be the quickest way of solving the problem.

“We have been talking about this for over a year now,” Cllr Jones told a meeting of the town council on Tuesday evening: “We were told it would happen by the end of October but nothing has happened. All the bollards which were put out are now all over the place and even a sign has been knocked down…fortunately it was a signpost not a child. We have big lorries roaring up and down there. Something needs to be done urgently.”

She also complained at a sign telling people about the new route to the tip being via Lubbecke Way was in the wrong place – right at the end of St George’s Road, the previous route to the centre, leading to drivers then having to find their way around.

Planning committee chairman Cllr Robin Potter said that a letter would be sent to the county council asking them to get on with the job.

“We were promised it in September. We must ask them to get on with it straight away.”

The experimental traffic order, which was said to be the quickest way of achieving changes to the road was to have included a mix of no parking areas, a weight restriction and traffic calming measures.

The county council has said that the work has been delayed by staff shortages and remains a priority.

The experimental traffic order will introduce parking restrictions close to the junction with King’s Road and also outside the ambulance station. The county say the effects of this, temporary, order will be monitored for several months before deciding whether to make it permanent. The process will involve a further consultation with residents at the end of the period.

Town councillors have called, over a period of years, for the county council to find a better site for the recycling centre which is only accessible by a narrow road and frequently has to be closed completely while skips are emptied, with queued cars waiting to use the tip, blocking entrances to businesses in the area.

A public examination into the county’s waste plan, held earlier this year, agreed the current site is unsuitable and suggested that a new facility be built on the Dorchester North development, if that goes ahead.