TRADERS in Gorse Hill could be set for a lifeline after Swindon Council agreed to look at ways of keeping the area alive.

Shoppers, businesses and residents handed a 2,400-signature petition to North Swindon MP Michael Wills in April, and the document was passed to Swindon Council's Transport, Environ-ment and Neighbourhood Services Commission (TENS).

The petition warned the economic future of the area may be put in jeopardy by a controversial new traffic junction in Cricklade Road.

It calls on the council to take action to "keep the area alive".

Last night's meeting recommended that further traffic surveys were carried out at the junctions, and that a representative of the petitioners was given a copy of the report.

But council officers recommended that the study was carried out after the school summer holidays when traffic was back to normal levels.

It will mean the report going to the TENS committee in October or November and work starting in the new year at the earliest.

Trader Maggie Mays, 56, who runs the Big As You Like lingerie store, said before the meeting: "We want to know why it has taken so long to get anything done. If we get a roundabout we will be happy, but we do not know how long that will take.

"Trade is still suffering and it can only get worse if we are forced to wait another six months"

Gorse Hill businesses claim that problems caused by traffic lights in Cricklade Road have cut their income by half since they replaced a table junction in December.

The petition is calling for a roundabout to be built in place of the lights.

Councillor Stan Pajak (Lib Dem, Eastcott) suggested replacing the traffic lights with a mini- roundabout but Coun David Glaholm (Lab, Penhill) said the committee must wait for the results of a new traffic study.

The situation in Gorse Hill mirrors that of the junction between Devizes Road, Croft and Newport Street in Old Town.

In early 2002 the council spent £150,000 on installing a set of traffic lights in place of a roundabout. But in January the council agreed to scrap the lights and replace them with the mini-roundabout after a 10-month campaign.