CHANGES to the Longforth Road traffic lights in Wellington to improve  traffic flow and pedestrian safety are planned by the county council but there are considerable doubts about when the works will be carried out due to spending cutbacks.

Wellington Town Council was told at its April meeting  that the county intended to upgrade the existing signals to incorporate a pedestrian phase and upgrade the existing pedestrian refuge to a staggered refuge.  Works also included a review of the staging and phases of the signals in order to increase capacity. It was also reported that the county intended to make a right hand turning lane into Longforth Road from High Street in due course.

Cllr Andy Govier said it was hoping the signal changes would improve traffic flow by about 100 vehicles an hour.

Cllr Marcus Barr said it was like a bottleneck at the junction of High Street and Longforth Road and felt the existing limited parking on the north side of High Street should be removed and replaced with double yellow lines so that there would not be so many hold-ups.

Cllr Janet Reed was doubtful if any of the work would be done. “They haven’t got any money to do it,” she said. “I can’t see it happening.”

The town council has contributed £2,000 towards the changes which the county is considering.