TRAFFIC calming work at Colehill will go ahead at the same time as work at Canford Bridge, officials have admitted.

But Andrew Berry, project sponsor at Dorset County Council, said they will consult with the bridge contractor Carillion Civil Engineering to try and minimise the potential impact of traffic chaos. Mr Berry said: "If the Canford Bridge has works on it we then have to alter the way we work with this route or some elements of it.

"We will still endeavour to carry on with something but not with something that's going to have a massively bad impact."

As reported in the Daily Echo, traffic calming is being introduced on Middlehill Road, Colehill, and proposals include gateway features to mark the entrances to Colehill, wooden bollards, painted sections of road in muted colours, and narrowing the road in sections.

More than 100 people looked at the proposals, and the final design is being re-presented to the parish council, before the works, which do not need planning permission, start.

The Borough of Poole and Dorset County Council are also upgrading Canford Bridge, in a £3 million project which starts on March 31 and runs to December.

The bridge will be closed completely for 18 weeks from mid-June to October, and diversions will be introduced on the A31 west to Lake Gates and into Wimborne over Julian's Bridge.

Wimborne traders are among those who are concerned that such works will impact severely, not just on residents but on visitors to the town.