Councillors and residents have called for Essex County Council to backtrack on plans to ban the right turn at a “death trap” junction.

Essex Highways revealed the plans after carrying out a survey on the junction of Wash Road West and Noak Hill Road, Basildon, between January 1, 2014, and June 6, 2017.

It showed that between these dates there were four crashes, one of which in March 2016 ended in a fatality.

Essex Highways is proposing to ban the right turning for drivers from Wash Road West into Noak Hill Road to improve safety. The works are expected to cost around £65,000 and Essex Highways believes it will stop all crashes.

Stuart Allen, Conservative councillor for Crouch, said he does not think this is the answer to the issue. He said: “By banning this right hand turn it will force drivers to turn right from Dunton Road into High Road North and then follow the roads around to end up back at the end of Noak Hill Road.

“I think by banning the right hand turn and pushing drivers to the other turning at Dunton Road and High Road North, it is making drivers use a more dangerous turning and I do no think that this is acceptable at all.”

Emma Waldron, 43, of Chenies Drive, Steeple View, said: “I’m dreading this to be honest, but then I don’t see what else can be done.

“That junction is a death trap and I’m glad that at last action is being taken to help reduce accidents. I don’t use it at all anymore unless I have to, in fact I go round the houses to avoid it. On the other hand, it’s going to cause absolute gridlock when the new junction is brought in, especially during the rush hour. Dunton Road will just be a no go zone. There just aren’t enough roads in Steeple View to cope with the increased traffic in this area- and with more and more people cutting through to get to the A127. I don’t know what the answer is.”

An Essex County Council spokesman said: “Casualty reduction schemes are very carefully evaluated and designed, using the latest traffic modelling and years of experience by road safety engineers. We are confident this scheme will reduce collisions on this site without causing significant other issues. However, as with all our schemes, we will take all objections and issues into account and then, if and when a scheme is implemented, we carefully monitor its effect and are prepared to modify.”