DRIVE DOWN THE DEATH TOLL: PLANS are under way for an £8.1m safety improvement scheme for one of the A36's most dangerous sections.

The stretch between Codford and Heytesbury has recently seen a number of serious crashes. Just last week 30-year-old motorcyclist Philip Browning from Ringwood, Dorset, was killed on the road at Codford.

The accident rate on this section, which serves some 23,000 vehicles a day, is more than three times the equivalent for a modern A road.

Wiltshire County Council's cabinet is due to back the improvement scheme, for the section known as Death Valley, at a meeting on July 11.

The bid will then go to the Govern-ment, which will announce in Dec-ember whether it has been given provisional funding.

Following a public inquiry and confirmation of funding the scheme could be complete by the end of 2005.

The council accepts the section of road is sub-standard and improvements are vital to curb the death toll.

Fleur de Rhe-Philipe, Wiltshire County Council's cabinet member for the environment, said she was behind the Wiltshire Times' campaign.

She said: "I'm in favour of anything that improves road safety. What we've got to do is improve driving on the road. People must look at themselves and be responsible.

"The reason why the scheme is so important is obvious. It should've been improved years ago when the Codford and Heytesbury work was done."

The scheme would see a 3.5km single carriageway improvement for the road, with the B390 diverted to a new signal controlled junction, also serving Knook village.

A staggered priority junction for business access is planned for the eastern end of the scheme and for Upton Lovell.

There would be substantial landscaping and nature conservation measures and a length of the existing road would be retained for pedestrians, cyclists, horses and local traffic.

The scheme highlights well-known concerns such as the blind summit at the B390 Knook Camp junction, the sharp corners on the hill at Knook Bends and inadequate visibility at the Upton Lovell junction.

It also notes difficulties with vehicles turning at the Little Chef and Hillside Caf near Codford.

Progress on the scheme has been held up pending the outcome of the Government's Bristol/Bath South Coast Transport Study. The study is due to be published at the end of this month, giving the county council an opportunity to bid for funding for new road schemes.