IT is the road they say will never be built, but Bournemouth council is holding onto its rights over the controversial Castle Lane West relief road.

The council decided to reserve the right to carry out highway, cycleway or bridleway work on the relief road route, pending further detailed studies into the issue.

The road, first proposed more than 30 years ago, has been unpopular with residents and environmentalists concerned about its impact on the already congested area, and was deleted from the Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole structure plan earlier this year.

But despite further objections from residents at the meeting - and admitting the road will probably not be built due to lack of funding - councillors decided it was better to keep their official interest in the road.

Cllr Basil Ratcliffe said: "I'd be very sad if at this stage it were to disappear completely, because we'd never get it back.

"If we allow it to remain, we've then got the option of doing what we think is the right thing to do with it in the future. The decision as to what we should do would be in our hands."

Cllr Ron Whittaker said it was "pie in the sky" to believe the road will be built, as the cost would be at least £34 million.

"To get this road, we have got to have developers' contributions, which would mean housing development to support the road and this would dispel the object of relieving Castle Lane West," he told fellow councillors.

But councillors voted in favour of a recommendation which would allow the option, along with that of building a cycle path or bridleway on the land, to be kept open.

Following the meeting, leader of the council Cllr John Millward said: "It's really a case of us being sure what happens to that piece of land. We don't want it to be open season."

He added that decisions would be made on the land when the council decides on its wider transport policy.

Angela Pooley, from East Dorset Friends of the Earth, said she was "very disappointed" in the council's stance.

"I wrote to every one of the councillors saying they should be looking at other ways of reducing the volumes of traffic," she said.

First published: Sept 20