A £1.5m road improvement scheme has been put on ice because it overlooks the need to improve the flow of traffic.

Southend Council's traffic and parking working party was due to approve preliminary proposals for a third phase of the A13 scheme in Leigh yesterday.

However, the decision was deferred after councillors raised concerns that the plans placed too much emphasis on road safety and did little to meet a key original aim of improving traffic flow.

John Lamb (Con, West Leigh) said: "This scheme was not just supposed to improve safety. It was supposed to improve traffic flow so drivers don't use the surrounding roads as a rat run to try to save time."

Anna Waite (Con, Prittlewell) criticised highways officers in charge of implementing the scheme. She said they had not provided councillors with enough information on the impact of work carried out so far.

She said: "We are constantly being asked to move forward without being told whether the decisions we made previously had worked."

The final phase has to be completed by 2006 to ensure Government funding is available.

Published Friday September 3, 2004

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