A YEAR ago Wiltshire Council cabinet member Philip Whitehead told people they could throw things at him if a plan for traffic lights in London Road did not improve traffic problems.

He will soon have to stand by his word as work on the £347,000 will take place during the school summer holidays and Cllr Whitehead is preparing a report for the next meeting of Devizes Area Board which meets on May 14 in the library at 6.30pm.

When the project was first unveiled many motorists feared the scheme to replace the roundabout at the junction of London Road with Windsor Drive would make matters worse.

But at a public meeting held last FebruaryChurch Cllr Whitehead used computer software to show how the lights would significantly improve morning rush hour traffic in all directions.

But he warned that because of problems at the nearby Horton industrial estate roundabout there would not be any improvements for motorists travelling from the Swindon direction into Devizes in the evening.

He said: "There will be a major improvement in the morning and if this is not the case I will come to another public meeting and you can throw things at me."

Some of those who attended the meeting were worried that the new scheme would create longer tail backs on Windsor Drive but it was pointed out that many drivers use the road as a cut through and if traffic in London Road was improved they would no longer use it as a rat run.

Computer graphics showed that once the scheme was implemented morning rush hour traffic in Windsor Drive would be cleared every time the lights turned green.

The new layout will mean there would be two lanes from each direction coming up to the lights. The pedestrian lights in Windsor Drive will be removed and the crossing incorporated into the new traffic light phasing.