FRUSTRATED Christchurch councillors are fighting to revive plans for a long-awaited Christchurch bypass.

Christchurch county councillors David Jones and Colin Jamieson asked for the scheme to be reconsidered by officers after it was omitted from the preferred options stage of a new South-East Dorset Transport Strategy.

At a meeting of Dorset County Council’s community overview committee on Monday, Cllr Jones and Cllr Jamieson requested officers look again at the Christchurch bypass plan as well as a scheme for an airport link road.

Christchurch is one of the most congested parts of the conurbation and one of the few areas where traffic volumes remain high throughout the working day and at weekends during the summer, according to evidence from the Transport Study.

Cllr Jones said: “This stage of the emerging plan has alarmed many Christchurch residents as it almost totally ignores the needs of the borough.

“Rather than try to provide a solution for the vast amount of traffic pouring through Christchurch from the east and north-east on its way Bournemouth, Poole and the west, the document proposes a bus corridor along the A35 with more restrictions for motorists at junctions.

“The document says nothing about commercial traffic in and through Christchurch, nor the need to improve links between the employment area at the airport and the national road network.”

He echoed the concerns of Christchurch councillors on the borough’s community services committee who were also asked for their views on the plan.

As well as commenting on the omission of the bypass and airport link road, concerns were raised over the minimal investment in infrastructure in the borough and the new layer of bureaucracy with a so-called Integrated Transport Authority taking over control of the borough’s parking.

Cllr Jones added: “It is back on the horizon. We’ve got to keep pushing it as they want us to forget it.”