A ROW broke out at a community meeting over plans to cut the number of lorries using a rat run.

Residents living in and around High Road, Langdon Hills, put forward a plan to seal off the road at its junction with Staneway because of the amount of traffic.

But other residents said the idea was something out of “cloud cuckoo land”.

A county council traffic survey over 12 hours recorded 59 lorries using the southern section of High Road, with some travelling faster than the 30mph limit.

Terry Dixon, 62, of The Waterfalls, Langdon Hills, said: “We just want to have a nice, safe community, but we’ve got this busy road running straight through it.

“The flow of traffic on Staneway is negligible, whereas our road is like a motorway.

“They come off the hill, turn into High Road and free wheel down at such a rate.

“The limit should actually be reduced to 20mph.”

Mr Dixon’s plan would involve making High Road a no-through road and forcing traffic to use Staneway and Mandeville Way.

Weight and width restrictions plus speed bumps were suggested as ways of making it work.

Mr Dixon also suggested closing off the A127 Fortune of War junction, making traffic get on and off the dual carriageway at Dunton.

But Vic York, 69, of Buller Road, Laindon, said: “I would be totally opposed to road closures because you are forcing traffic past somewhere else.

“To close the Laindon High Road exit at the Fortune of War would be ridiculous.

“The police often use that route as a diversion when there is an accident on the A127.

“The idea you could close off Staneway is something out of cloud cuckoo land.”

Councillors have also expressed concerns over traffic levels in High Road given the number of new developments springing up in the area.

Peter Wright, Essex County Council highways officer, told the Laindon Park/Langdon Hills meeting a survey could soon be conducted to pinpoint where traffic is coming from and going to.