Fears town road ‘an accident waiting to happen’

Fairfield Road Dorchester

Further talks are to be held over the Dorset Council proposals to make Dorchester’s Fairfield Road safer.

A recent public consultation resulted in around 175 responses, most in favour of making the road pedestrian friendly and more attractive with planting and other landscaping.

One of the ideas included a ‘mini avenue’ of 12 suitably small species of tree either side of the road.

Dorchester town councillors have now offered to set up a small working group, together with joint markets committee members, to explore with Dorset Council officials the best designs, which will eventually need to go for planning consent once they have been formalised.

Principal transport planner at Dorset Council, Chris Peck, told town councillors that the other issue was likely to be finance with the council’s conservation team suggesting that a better pavement surface should be considered, rather than ‘black top’ tarmac.

He said that while raised planters had been proposed for a small area at one end of the road there had been calls to do better and make the area more integrated with the surroundings, which would also have extra costs.

One of the options being discussed is to remove six parking spaces which has raised the issue of road levels which are said to be ‘off centre” with the highest point of the road not where normally expected, in the middle.

Some of the money for the project is likely to come from a national Travel England fund but it is now expected that Dorchester Town Council will be asked to chip in and to also take on the long-term maintenance of the soft landscaping. Further talks will be needed on both issues.

There have long been complaints about the road from Dorchester residents and visitors. It is the main walking route between the town’s two rail stations, with parking on both sides and no pavements, forcing pedestrians into the path of traffic. It is also badly lit, as are surrounding car parks.

A previous meeting heard that of three recently recorded injury accidents on the Fairfield Road junction, two were classed as serious.

Cllr Molly Rennie said at the time that the current road layout amounted to “an accident waiting to happen” because of the conflict between vehicles and pedestrians, with Dorset Council officers conceding that there were probably other accidents and near-misses which had not been formally recorded over the years.