A DEVELOPER is attempting to tackle congestion at a busy Rayleigh junction with a newly designed roundabout.

Phase 2 Development has proposed the roundabout to keep traffic flowing between Hullbridge Road and Rawreth Lane, to the west of Rayleigh.

With 500 homes also set to be built on land between London Road and Rawreth Lane, the roundabout is designed to ease the inevitable increase in traffic over the next ten years.

An initial plan for the roundabout blocked access from nearby Mortimer Road into Hullbridge Road and gave provision for an exit into Lubbards Farm, that could be completed when any future development on the site is allocated, but these grievances have now been rectified in the final plans.

Chris Black, Liberal Democrat councillor for the Downhall and Rawreth ward, said: “I'm pleased to see that for once they seemed to have listened to us and designed a junction that doesn’t block access to Mortimer Road as previously.

“The ghost road into Lubbards Farm isn't included on the plan either, however there does seem to be space to add an extra road in the future.”

The previous plan included an exit from the roundabout into Lubbards Farm, with many speculating the land may be earmarked for future development.

Linda Kendall, of Rayleigh Action Group, lives in Lubbards Close, which will join the newly designed roundabout, and thinks that no matter the design of the junction, the traffic will still be a problem.

She said: “I guess it will get the traffic moving from one road to the other quicker than the current mini-roundabout but there will still be the same number of cars on the road so it will still be congested.

“Hullbridge is going to be smothered with its new homes and it’s ten years of building disruption for them.

“I hope building this roundabout they can construct it without blocking the current roads too much, which will be something I guess.

“I don’t know where the money is coming from for this though – we were told it would cost around £2million to build – is that all coming from the developer or is the council buying the land – and if so, what with?”