A RESIDENT fears homeowners will be “trapped” if a new access road is not completed within a Shaftesbury estate.

A contractor will now be appointed by Shaftesbury Town Council, costing the authority around £1,750, to find out why a promised road connecting Maple Road with Wincombe Lane, known as the spine road, has not yet been delivered to the Maltings estate and what needs to be done next.

Heard during the latest full council meeting, Maltings estate resident Tony Reeve told councillors that individuals at the north of the eastern development could not leave their homes on Monday, January 11, as tarmacking was taking place along Indus Road into Maple Road - currently their only exit.

He said: “Without the spine road being completed anything that impacts on Maple Road means the entire north of the development is cut off and trapped as we were for the whole day [on Monday].

“Any fire, road works, flooding, that is it – we are trapped, and that is totally unacceptable.”

A second resident from the estate, John Hart, said he was “very concerned” the spine road was yet to be built.

He said: “The spine road is desperately needed, not only for the environmental issues but for health and safety.

"If there’s a fire at the top end of [the estate], that would mean [zero exits] for the Maltings residents.”

Councillors also raised concerns that installation of the controversial bus gate should not go ahead before the spine road is underway, as this would halt a main access point into the estate.

Talk of a bus gate on Mampitts Lane first started as a means to reduce traffic, as it would only allow emergency vehicles and buses to access Christy’s Lane from the development, via Pound Lane. When the bus gate is introduced other vehicles will need to take a longer route to reach the main road.

Councillor John Lewer, supporting Cllr Karen Tippins’ motion, said hiring a consultant was the next step to move the spine road job forward.

He told the council that he had written to the Hopkins company, which owns the land where the road is hoped to form, and the reply he received stated that the land was used for farming interests and had been in the family for 25 years.

The Journal understands this is why the spine road project is not yet going ahead.

Debating the motion, Cllr Phil Proctor said an individual should be hired to prevent the installation of the bus gate until the secondary route is underway, and Cllrs Piers Brown and Alex Chase queried whether a consultant was really required.

Cllr Brown said: “The problem to me seems quite simple – the person that owns the land doesn’t want to build a road on it, therefore no road is being built, and we can’t make them. That seems to be the sticking point here.”

Cllr Tippins said that a specialist expert was needed to get the required details about the spine road, adding that the bus gate could potentially be stalled but not scrapped.

According to the councillor a petition of between 300 and 400 signatures was put to Dorset Council calling for the bus gate to not go ahead, but it could not progress as it was an authorised planning application, previously approved by Shaftesbury Town Council.

Supported by a majority of councillors, it is now up to the allocated consultant to detail what can be done next to secure the spine road, whether the bus gate project can be stalled while the secondary route takes shape, and whether the land can be compulsory purchased.