A STUDY of traffic flows in Devizes is to be carried out after Kennet District Council lent money to Wiltshire County Council to cover the cost.

Residents of Devizes have long called for the county council to update traffic studies done during the 1990s especially as around 1,000 houses are set to be built in the London Road area in the next six years.

The traffic study is to be carried out during the autumn. It will involve counting vehicles at morning and evening rush hours. Based on that it will estimate traffic flows up to 2016.

Harry Clayton, a resident of Roundway Park, welcomed the news. He said: "It is a step in the right direction. It seems to be an absurdity to carry out massive alteration in the number of houses before carrying out a transport study."

Town councillor Noel Woolrych said: "Devizes is grinding to a halt already with the amount of traffic using the roads. It will get worse with the amount of extra housing planned to be built.

"An updated traffic study is needed and I hope it will involve stopping motorists and asking them where they have come from and are travelling to so they can work out why they are coming through Devizes."