Whether for or against the new Weymouth Relief Road we must now accept it as fact. I have to wonder, however, how long it will be before it becomes Weymouth’s largest car park.

Like many others I am concerned that our hopes of significant improvement in traffic flows will be dashed - the geography of the town simply will not admit of increased traffic volume.

Perhaps the time is now right to look for a radical solution and I offer the following suggestion as a basis for consideration.

On completion of the new road the town will have a significant portion of an effective ring road with an arterial feeder in place.

The purpose of the new arterial feeder (the Relief Road) and the ring roads that it will serve is to ensure goods and people access their destination within the town with minimum delay.

It is clear the existing road structure within the town is incapable of handling an increase in traffic which inevitably follows an improvement in the feeder route and consequently the new investment will fail to produce any significant benefit.

The obvious conclusion is that incoming traffic should be filtered out to allow for a level that the existing town roads can cope with.

The only solution to this is, I suggest, a system of congestion charges. The problem is not unique to Weymouth but our geography may be.

A number of towns and cities have or are considering congestion charges and where already introduced have had a mixed reception but the evidence is that they do enhance the traffic flow.

The introduction of charges is simply the catalyst for a number of interlocking initiatives necessary to produce a solution that ultimately will allow much more freedom for goods and pedestrians to access the town.

Clearly a comprehensive system of car parks will be required on the perimeter of the zone and these will need competent servicing by a dedicated bus network augmented by licensed carriers; taxis, hire cars and perhaps larger ‘people carriers’.

As most people will be aware, the presence of large goods vehicles in the town, especially articulated HGVs, frequently gives rise to severe disruption of traffic and, on occasions, damage to property.

The suggestion is that all heavy goods deliveries be banned from the zone. Clearly the town will still need goods delivered and this could be serviced by employing the existing New Look depot at Mercery Road as a transfer depot.

Although I would anticipate initial opposition to this proposal from the road haulage industry I believe they could be persuaded to cooperate.

The zone boundary would obviously be the subject of exhaustive examination and consultation but it should be possible to establish criteria to mitigate unreasonable burdens being placed on businesses and residents within the zone boundary.

The initial consideration for the boundary might be to start in the east at Chalbury Corner along the improved Littlemoor Road to the junction with the new relief road, south along the new road to Manor Roundabout.

From there along the Weymouth Way to Chaffey’s roundabout then west to the roundabout at Radipole Lane; from this point along Radipole Lane to Fiveways then up Lanehouse to Wyke.

It should be noted that the proposed transfer depot is adjacent the railway and there could be possibilities of integrating the depot with the rail system.

James Robertson, Preston Road, Weymouth.