FUMING motorists say traffic levels in Victoria Avenue have got worse since the junction was revamped and traffic lights installed.

The town centre junction recently reopened as a T-junction following a £7million revamp which saw the roundabout replaced with more paving for pedestrians and traffic lights put up.

Council bosses reject claims traffic has got worse compared to the previous layout, but say the congestion situation there is being constantly monitored.

Taxi driver Richard Davies, 53, from Hawkwell, said cars are often queuing back to the Blue Boar pub junction and even further during busy times.

He believes the syncing of the lights has not been operating properly which affects cars heading towards the town centre or sea front that need to turn left at the T-junction.

Mr Davies said: “The traffic is still horrendous. There are queues down Victoria Avenue to Cuckoo Corner. We’ve had ten months of hell with this and now we are nearly in May. This is ridiculous. The roundabout was fine, the traffic lights are the problem.”

Jackie Smith, 47, of Banyard Way, Rochford, said she sat in heavy traffic along the route last Friday afternoon.

She said: “The traffic was right back to Cuckoo Corner.

“Normally it would take 20 minutes, but this time it must have been 35 minutes.”

The traffic lights, along with others at Cuckoo Corner and Progress Road, use a Scoot system which detects the amount of vehicles approaching and varies its lighting accordingly.

Mark Flewitt, the Tory councillor for transport, said the lights are working properly, but the council would look at the results to see if there are any issues.

He said: “There are no glitches. The lights are being constantly monitored even during holiday times.

“We’ve just had some very heavy capacity over Easter and the Royal Wedding bank holidays.

“Down Victoria Avenue we will get a lot of traffic and that would put pressure on any road scheme, new or otherwise.

“We will make changes to it if appropriate.

“With the old roundabout there were queues at capacity time.”