A proposal to open a busy Blandford street to two-way traffic has been shelved by the town council. Town councillors wanted to replace the one-way system on White Cliff Mill Street with a two-way traffic flow to improve access to doctors’ surgeries.

But after a consultation published in the council’s Residents News Update magazine, sent to 5,500 properties in the town, six people wrote to support the proposal, while two residents sent letters of opposition.

Cllr Esme Butler told a meeting of the council’s general purposes committee that abandoning the plan was a “shame”, while Cllr Malcolm Russell questioned the need for a consultation.

But town clerk Trevor Savage said County Hall traffic managers had concluded that a two-way traffic way system would not work, while town mayor Cllr Lynn Lindsay urged councillors to listen to the “proper officers”.

The committee voted not to pursue the project further “at the present”.