TRAFFIC chaos on the night of the Summer Solstice should be avoided, thanks to a raft of contingency plans announced this week.

Last year's highly successful celebration was marred for many visitors by long tailbacks on the A303 near Stonehenge, which took several hours to clear.

Other road users and nearby residents also faced severe delays after they were caught in the Solstice snarl-up.

This year, organiser English Heritage hopes to cut the queues by opening the car park four hours earlier, at 8pm, and allowing more than 30,000 Solstice-goers access to the monument from 10pm until 9am on June 21.

More revellers will be encouraged to use public transport, with Wilts & Dorset buses laying on special services from Salisbury train and coach stations to Stonehenge.

And if the road does become jammed, traffic might be diverted along Countess Road and through Larkhill to Airmen's Corner, although Peter Carson told a meeting of Amesbury Council on Tuesday last week that he hoped this will not be necessary.

"We think last year was particularly congested because people were coming to the Solstice on Friday night and meeting all the weekend and commuter traffic," he said.

"This year, it falls on a Sunday, and the busiest time on the roads is 5 to 7pm, so we hope it will not be such a problem.

"We are confident we have enough contingencies in place if the road does become snarled, although it is only through the co-operation of the police, councils, English Heritage and visitors to the Solstice that we can hold this event successfully."

Mr Carson assured councillors that signs to the car park at the gallops will be clearer this year and, for the first time, people will walk to the monument along a 10m-wide corridor through farmers' fields, which will give better views of the stones then the normal route down the A344.

The arrangements will be posted on websites about the Solstice and full emergency planning has already been carried out.

Superintendent Matt Pullen is in charge of the police operation at the Solstice.

"Obviously, it is a huge demand on resources," he said.

"We want to avoid some of the problems of last year, when 200 cars were left on the A303.

"We also hope to move away from the Solstice being seen as a party, and make it a family-friendly event for everyone."