MP John Glen has said that he has been lobbying National Highways for years for a solution to congestion on College Roundabout and Southampton Road.

In a letter to the Journal yesterday (Thursday, December 2), the Conservative MP for Salisbury said he will be "keeping the pressure" on the efforts, adding that "good intentions and warm words will only get us so far".

Wiltshire Council announced this week that College Roundabout, which connects the A36 and the A338, is now set to be considered for improvements, and the council says it intends to liaise with National Highways.

Read more: College Roundabout, Salisbury in line for improvements

The roundabout has been referred to as "the biggest cause of Salisbury's traffic problems" and "a major bottleneck".

This announcement comes after the council opened a public consultation to improve three busy Salisbury junctions.

In a £15m project, Wiltshire Council suggested improvements to Exeter Street Roundabout, Harnham Gyratory and Park Wall Junction, in an attempt to reduce congestion and delays across the city.

College Roundabout was originally not included in the plans.

However, after the public and city council gave feedback on the proposals, the council announced this week that it is to "look again" at the plans.

Mr Glen has welcomed the news, saying that College Roundabout is geographically close to the other three roundabouts, and so they need to be examined together.

He wrote: "After many years of lobbying Highways England – now National Highways – about congestion on College Roundabout and Southampton Road, it was welcome to see the news in the Salisbury Journal that progress is being made.

"Exeter Street Roundabout, the Harnham Gyratory, College Roundabout and Southampton Road are all close geographically and need to be examined together.

"There is of course a division of responsibilities between Wiltshire Council and National Highways – with the latter responsible for the A36 – but constituents don’t want to get caught up in bureaucratic turf wars, they want problems resolved.

"It is therefore welcome that further work on the Harnham Gyratory and Exeter Street roundabouts is being delayed until the spring when more accurate data can be collected after the pandemic and a more unified approach to tackling congestion on the south eastern approaches to Salisbury can be secured.

"I am very pleased to hear that National Highways and Wiltshire Council are working collaboratively on this and I will be keeping the pressure up.

"Good intentions and warm words will only get us so far and we need to deliver on this for the benefit of Salisbury residents and our economy."

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