When the Secretary of State announced her decision to approve applications by Dorset County Council for Side Roads and Compulsory Purchase Orders it enabled the Weymouth Relief Road and a park and ride car park to be constructed.
The main carriageway of the Weymouth Relief Road opened on Thursday 17th March 2011, and the new Weymouth Mount Pleasant Park and Ride car park is now also complete and open to the public.
Adams Hendry is pleased to have been the Planning and EIA advisers to Dorset County Council, as highway authority, since November 2005. When we were appointed, we carried out an audit of previous proposals and suggested significant amendments to reflect both the environmental sensitivities of the location (AONB and SSSI) and the decision-making criteria set out in Government policy and the Statutory Development Plan. These included a re-alignment through the AONB (which encloses the urban area on the landward side) involving the partial removal of the bypassed section of A354 over the Ridgeway.
We also acted on behalf of the County Council at the CPO inquiry, for which we provided a key expert witness. The High Court refused an application by objectors for judicial review of the consent. After the consent had been secured, we saved the County Council several £million by successfully contesting, on their behalf, excessive claims for compensation from landowners.
