DELIVERIES to the Duchy's anaerobic digester, to the west of Dorchester, which have already exceeded original proposals, are likely to be further regulated.

The estate has promised to restrict deliveries and keep them away from village roads – although Charminster councillor David Taylor says it is impossible to control.

He claimed that everyone knows the lorries, and tractors and trailers delivering to the Rainbarrow Farm site, just off the Monkeys Jump roundabout, frequently take 'shortcut' routes when the Dorchester bypass and routes on and to the A37 were clogged up.

"We can't really enforce it – despite best intentions" said Cllr Taylor at Friday's strategic planning committee.

He called for a decision to be deferred claiming the Duchy had not produced the transport plan in the detail it had been asked for.

His request was agreed – with further talksnow to be held with the Duchy over potential solutions to the problem before coming back to the committee in the coming weeks.

Changes to the planning consent for the site had been discussed because, by the Duchy's own figures, the site has been exceeding delivery totals, initially set at 35,000 tonnes in 2012, then extended to 42,500 tonnes in 2017 and now operating at up to 60,000 tonnes a year.

During the time there has also been changes to the type of materials being brought into the site and the areas from where it travels from. Councillors were told that today most of the materials used are limited to Oats, Maize and Rye, usually coming into the site mainly over a 4-6 week period, depending on optimum harvesting times, most of it from a ten-mile radius.

As part of an application to regulate the use the Duchy has said it will manage deliveries to avoid too many lorries or tractors and trailers arriving around the same time – also stressing the need for vehicles to use the main roads, rather than through villages.

Parish councillors on routes to and from the site had objected to the additional traffic – although highways officers raised no objection, saying that although there could be hundreds of trips to and from the site at peak times, the numbers were still relatively small compared to the overall number of vehicles on the main routes.

The committee heard that the site already has an agreement not to take deliveries at rush hour times, although that did not apply at peak harvest times when deliveries might be needed around the clock. The next time that is expected to happen is in May, although that will depend on the weather.