‘WE are listening’ – the response from Dorset Council after claims that questions over the landslip road at Dinah’s Hollow near Shaftesbury have gone unanswered.

Highways portfolio holder Cllr Ray Bryan says he is puzzled by a statement that around 20 emails have not been answered since October and a claim that the parish council is not being fully consulted over proposals for the road.

Cllr Bryan says that most of the information being asked is already in Dorset Council papers which anyone can view.

He told a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday that he was happy to hold face to face talks once lockdown restrictions allowed and said that as far as he was aware all questions, including those which missed the deadline for a previous meeting, had been answered by officers.

The senior councillor said that what he was not yet able to confirm was when the C13 works would start, but promised that residents, ward councillors and the parish council, would be fully informed as the scheme progressed.

He told local councillors Jane Somper and Sherry Jespersen, in response to questions, that diversion routes would be signed via the A350 once the closure came in although it was not possible to stop drivers using other routes than the preferred diversion.

In response to a question about re-planting he said work in preparation for underpinning the site was likely to create more light to the woodland floor and that the area would naturally re-grow, so there was currently no formal re-planting schedule.

Cllr Bryan said he expected work on preparing the site to start in January or February before the bird nesting season with ground works taking place in spring/summer as the ground dries out. The entire process is expected to take about seven months to complete.

Cllr Bryan confirmed that the existing advisory one-way system for HGVs (A350 northbound/C13 southbound) would be reinstated as soon as possible once the work in Dinah’s Hollow is completed.