THE brief “consultation” has started on the plan to divide Ferndown from Wimborne by slicing through the Canford Bottom roundabout.

I urge anyone who might be affected to visit highways/gov.uk /roads/projects/30554.aspx before it closes on May 31.

It claims that accidents and congestion will be reduced. Both of these were actually increased just a couple of years ago by the ridiculous white-lining scheme introduced then.

This is a classic example of deliberately making matters worse and then proposing a “solution” to this self imposed and largely unnecessary problem.

The website contains a very short video of the new scheme which clearly shows that traffic along the joined up A31 will benefit at the expense of everyone (mostly locals) on the four minor roads.

Simple arithmetic. If 100 people save 10 seconds each that is 1,000 seconds “saved”. If one poor soul (probably me now) is held up for 15 minutes to achieve this then that is 900 seconds wasted. Overall 100 seconds have been saved but would you care to be the person who suffers so greatly?

The report contains the astounding comment that the new scheme will be controlled by no less than 70 sets of traffic lights! No matter how well programmed they are, traffic lights are designed to stop traffic.

As best I can tell from the tiny diagrams included, my journey from Ferndown to Wimborne will require me to pass through at least six separate sets of lights.

Would anyone care to try and convince me of any benefit from all these lights? Think too about the likelihood that the sequencing will never be “quite right”.

An alternative? The report rules out a flyover without much justification and my proposal would be a single lane flyover running between the middles of the two bypasses.

It seems that the work will start in September and will be finished before the Olympic Games so feedback may achieve little but we must at least be able to say “I told you so” when the awful result is seen.

PHILIP NEWTON WEBB, Stanfield Road, Ferndown