A new Wigglybus, subsidised bus services, new roads and more highway maintenance have been highlighted in a new report charting progress in Wiltshire's transport network.

Wiltshire County Council's annual progress report on the Local Transport Plan for the county is due to be published today.

The report, which covers the financial year 2002-2003, measures improvements over the last 12 months and outlines plans for future years.

Fleur de Rhe Philipe, Wiltshire County Council's cabinet member for the environment, said: "This report shows that the county council is making good progress in improving Wiltshire's transport network.

"However, there is still much to be done, and I hope that we will be able to move forward on a number of key road schemes over the next year."

Key achievements of the last year include the launch of the award-winning, Wigglybus service in the Calne area, while a fourth bus was added to extend the existing Pewsey Vale service.

Demand responsive bus services such as the Wigglybus and the Royal United Hospital Hopper carried 32 percent more passengers in 2002-2003 than in the previous year.

Wiltshire County Council was also successful in preserving its supported bus routes despite rising costs. The report said two-thirds of rural residents still have an hourly or better bus service within a ten minutes' walk.

A number of major road schemes are progressing. Construction work began on the A350 Semington to Melksham diversion at the start of the year and the new road is expected to be open to traffic early in 2004.

Over the year road safety improvements were carried out at 17 sites from the council's accident cluster list.

These are sites of three or more injury accidents over the last three years.

Sixty-one highway maintenance schemes were completed throughout the county at a cost of £7.25 million.

Many of the schemes included improvements for pedestrians and disabled people, and features designed to help disabled people have now been included on 97 per cent of pedestrian crossings with signals.