PART of a main road could be widened to allow for a new junction at an industrial estate in Wimborne.

A planning application has been made to form a new junction onto Ringwood Road, providing a new estate road to serve Woolsbridge Industrial Estate in Three Legged Cross.

The junction would be created to avoid carrying out major junction improvements at the existing entrance at the Old Barn Farm junction. Plans for this scheme were approved at appeal in 2014 but would involve a signalised junction and the removal of protected oak trees.

The proposed new junction would be a priority ‘T’ junction, opposite Oakley Farm. It would feature a central pedestrian island and involve the widening of Ringwood Road to a 7.3m carriageway, with a 3m wide footway, which could be used to create an off-road cycle route to the industrial estate.

The stretch of road is currently 6.4m wide with a 1.8m wide footway.

The applicants, Ankers and Rawlings, were granted outline planning permission to expand the industrial estate last year on the condition the junction at the site’s entrance was improved and a cycle link to the Castleman Trailway to the south was provided.

Engineering firm Calcinotto said the proposed junction can be constructed with “reduced impact to the operators of the industrial estate and users of Ringwood Road”.

“The formation of a priority ‘T’ junction to access the site is appropriate to the nature of the existing highway infrastructure within this semi-rural setting. The priority junction will not introduce an isolated signalised junction, which is endemic of urbanisation. The proposed access position has excellent sight lines and will mean that the tree loss required at the Old Barn Farm Road junction is no longer required to provide the planning approved signalised junction,” they added.

However, neighbours have objected to the plans over concerns of increased noise from vehicles using the junction and the risk of road traffic accidents.

The industrial estate is also on green belt land and close to a number of nationally designated sites of nature conservation. The East Dorset Environment Partnership highlighted the proximity of Moors River to the site of the proposed junction and access road.

“It is essential that there is no piped drainage into any ditch or field drain that then discharges to the Moors River as this will just flush road pollutants to the river.”

The plans will go before East Dorset District Council on Tuesday, March 21.