A NEW bridge could be built east of Longham to accommodate plans for 2,000 new homes in the village.

As reported in the Daily Echo, councillors and residents say the existing bridge, built in 1728, is not fit for its current purpose.

Hundreds of residents attended a public meeting hours after a crash closed the bridge on Tuesday. Many spoke of their fury at ongoing problems with infrastructure and traffic in the area, while ward councillor Paul Hanson Graham accused both Dorset and Bournemouth councils of 'ignoring residents' misery'.

Now officials from the county council say they are in the "early stages" of considering options for a new bridge.

Matthew Piles, service director for environment, infrastructure and economy, said: "We’re aware of the limitations of our network and have consistently lobbied government for a fairer share of transport funding.

"We are currently working with highways colleagues at Bournemouth Borough Council and the Borough of Poole on a study of the A348 Ringwood Road and A3049 Wallisdown Road corridor to provide evidence to support our case for improvements.

"This study will look at current traffic levels and use traffic modelling to forecast the impact of new housing development on this corridor.

"Without pre-empting the outcomes of the study, Longham Bridge is likely to be identified as a constraint on the network, which is why we are in the early stages of considering options for a new bridge to form a straighter link to the east of the existing bridge.

"This will remove the bridge strike issue.

"We would need to bid for external funding from government for this large-scale scheme, so this is not a short-term solution."

No one was hurt when a lorry hit Longham Bridge early on Tuesday. However, a stretch of Ringwood Road was closed for much of the morning, causing chaos in the area.

East Dorset District Council plans to build 2,000 new homes at Longham as part of the proposed local plan. Earlier this year, plans for 386 new houses, a supermarket and a road on land east of New Road, West Parley - just over a mile away from Longham - went before the council.

At the meeting on Tuesday, one resident asked: "Why can't all of the traffic jams be sorted out before we consider any more new development?

"It seems we are going about this the wrong way around."