Wiltshire County Council has unveiled a £1.2m scheme to improve a congested section of Chippenham's western bypass.

The stretch of the A350 from the Safeway roundabout to outside Chippenham Golf Club will be turned into dual carriageway.

Two lanes will be created on the Cepen Park pub side of the bypass between the Safeway roundabout and the Malmesbury Road roundabout.

Both lanes will be made dual carriageway between the Malmesbury Road roundabout and the Plough crossroads.

A new entrance to Chippenham Golf Club will be created from the Malmesbury Road roundabout.

The road carries 27,000 vehicles a day, but the one-lane section around the Malmesbury Road roundabout causes considerable congestion at peak times.

Now county councillors are moving ahead to compulsorily purchase the land needed for the work. Sandie Webb, who represents Chippenham, is pleased that the scheme is to go ahead.

"We welcome it. It's been a long time in coming and it should help a lot of roads in Chippenham," she said.

The council has not yet set a date for the work, and the compulsory purchase orders could take several months to finalise.

Wiltshire county councillor for Calne and Bremhill, Christine Crisp, said: "We very much welcome this proposal to improve this stretch of road.

"Part of the road is within my patch and I receive a lot of complaints about delays and about drivers especially local people using the local housing estates as rat runs to access the A350."