SWINDON'S latest set of traffic lights is a waste of money according to a Highworth town councillor and commuter.

Work is currently underway on an £80,000 scheme to replace the roundabout opposite Swindon bus station with a set of traffic lights.

But Steve Weisinger believes the scheme will worsen rather than improve traffic flow.

He said: "As a regular user of the public transport system, I travel daily in to work from Highworth by bus each morning

"I experience very little delay in getting out of the bus station, which is one of the things this roundabout is supposed to solve.

"My feelings are that it will cause delays for traffic and actually increase journey times on buses. I hope I am proved wrong.

"The reason I feel it will cause greater delays to bus journeys is shortage of space in the bus station.

"When the lights are red, buses waiting to leave will start backing up.

"Chaos looms and it won't be long before an accident happens.

"My suggestion would be to trial this with temporary traffic lights over a three-month period or less. Surely with the state of the budget that Swindon Council has, the last thing they should be gambling on is such a costly project."

Last month the council decided to cancel a £150,000 traffic light scheme on the corner of Newport Street in Old Town.

The lights were designed to improve bus journey times but according to residents they made traffic problems worse.

After a lengthy campaign, the council agreed to scrap the scheme.

Council traffic and road safety manager Adrian Dean said he was confident the new lights opposite Swindon bus station would be an improvement.

He added: "The signals are going in to alleviate difficulties facing buses getting out of the bus station due to traffic on the road in front of it.

"I do not foresee queuing in the bus station to the extent that we would be concerned.

"Council policy is to facilitate bus services and do as much as we can to make them better in terms of reducing delays.

"There is a safety issue as well at this junction, and we are also complying with the Health and Safety Executive who visited the bus station and let us know that we should make changes."