Cllr. Gerald Duke is to be commended for his thinking outside the box in his attempts to address the problem of pollution in High West Street by monitoring and fining vehicles driving through the town from A37/A35 routes rather than using the bypass.

Whilst the monitoring and fining of vehicle owners may reduce traffic levels we also need to consider what such a policy would do to the image of Dorchester as a desirable place to visit on another occasion. I suggest that ways of ensuring Sat-Nav’s do not direct traffic would be preferable to using a private company to make a profit from motorists mistakes .

However I also believe there is a much better solution which would also reduce congestion at the top of town.

At the top of town, traffic converges from north, south, east and west which results in traffic queuing in all directions, particularly at busy times. It is this queuing that particularly adds to the pollution levels

If the road through the industrial estate from the A37 to Poundbury Road was upgraded and adopted, all the traffic travelling east west, Charminster/Poundbury and vice versa could be eliminated from the top of town. This could significantly reduce congestion at the top of town roundabout.

It would also have the advantage of creating a route to the top of town carpark for visitors to the town. Visitors would not then need to use the top of town roundabout and they would be parking conveniently to walk to all the existing and new visitor attractions in High West Street.

Clearly this would also require improvements to the junctions involved, in particular the Charminster junction by Lidl and Millar’s close which is already in need of an urgent redesign.

I call on all our local Councillors and the County Highways Department to think outside the box too and take a serious look at adopting this road to reduce Dorchester’s pollution and traffic congestion.

Yours sincerely,

Mary Calvert