PLANS for a new junction on the Spur Road will be considered solely by Bournemouth council despite also being submitted to Dorset County Council as well.

The county council’s regulatory committee is being recommended to delegate responsibility for making a decision having deemed it to be ‘more practical and appropriate’ for it not to be involved.

Before the previous scheme was withdrawn earlier this year, the same decision was made by councillors.

Part of the Wessex Fields scheme, the new junction is aimed at improving traffic flows around Royal Bournemouth Hospital and falls on land owned by both councils.

As a result, applications have been submitted to both councils for a decision.

The latest proposals include a series of changes to the original plans including the alignment of the road and the retention of Cob Barn.

The scheme forms part of the wider Bournemouth International Growth project to develop the area.

A new junction is proposed on the A338 to ‘open employment land’ at the Wessex Fields Business Park and to improve access to the hospital.

Rather than the councils each determining the application, Dorset County Council’s regulatory committee is being recommended to delegate responsibility to Bournemouth.

A report to the committee says that, as well as avoiding the duplication of work, the move would “reduce the potential risk of a legal challenge” arising from the two authorities interpreting policies in different ways.

The county council’s head of planning, Maxine Bodell, to Thursday’s meeting of its regulatory committee, says: “It is considered that delegating authority from Dorset County Council to Bournemouth council to determine the application would carry less risk than should each authority deal with the applications separately.

“Furthermore, there would be the added benefit that there would be less duplication in work and less of a financial burden on the county council.”

Delegation of responsibility would normally fall to the full meeting of the county council but with it not due to meet until March, the council’s regulatory committee is being asked to make the decision.