A rethink is needed over the way the public is consulted over major traffic schemes in future, council leader Mike Bawden (Old Town and Lawns) has warned.

He thinks the majority of people affected by major schemes, like planning developments and road improvements, are being missed in the period before a scheme is granted.

Coun Bawden admitted Swindon Council has a communications problem and could be forced into another embarrassing u-turn over a controversial traffic calming measure as a result of people pressure.

The latest kafuffle centres on speed humps along Covingham Drive, which have so outraged residents and motorists alike that the council is bracing itself for a 1,500-signature petition calling for their removal.

Campaigners say the bumps, which were installed earlier this year at a cost of £130,000, are causing backaches and damage to cars and do little to discourage speeding drivers.

Earlier this year the council bowed to pressure from the public and removed traffic lights at the junction of Devizes Road and Newport Street in council leader Mike Bawden's own ward after they argued a roundabout was more practical.

And the authority's highways officers were forced to lower two speed humps along Freshbrook Way after parents complained that after the humps were installed drivers took detours along Beamaris Road where nearly 400 children cross the road to reach Oliver Tomkins Junior Schools.

Coun Bawden said: "The council has got two things wrong now. We definitely got Devizes Road wrong, but this was tied up with the implementation of the park and ride scheme.

"And the current situation in Covingham Drive has produced a petition with hundreds of signatures asking for it to be scrapped.

"I think now we really need to consider quite carefully the way in which we go out to consultation. Public meetings don't always attract members of the public, but once residents get a system like the one along Covingham Drive, suddenly they don't want it anymore what do we do as a council? Consultation is a very difficult exercise.

"The council does have a communication problem and we've got to engage with the public because traffic management affects everyone and everyone has a view."

Traffic management officers spent time on Monday looking at the Covingham speed humps and assessing whether they are a danger to health, cause damage to cars and actually discourage speeding drivers.

Julieanne Mason, 53, of Cheraton Close in Nythe, is heading the campaign to get the speed humps removed. She suffers from Osteoporosis and claims she has experienced great pain trying to negotiate the bumps, which have even caused extensive damage to her car.

She said: "What we are protesting about is the aggression of certain speed bumps the humps are not of a consistent level and I want a better safety measure put in than what the humps are giving.

"Too many drivers go between the humps in middle of the road and when I get the opportunity I will park on Covingham Drive and take pictures to prove it's just not stopping dangerous drivers."