A COUNCIL is under fire for “dragging its feet” over plans to straighten a controversial junction which have been years in the making.

Essex County Council (ECC) says it will submit a bid for government funding straighten the Fortune of War junction of the A127 and High Road, Laindon, next year.

The authority has come under fire from Wickford and Rayleigh MP Mark Francois who has long campaigned for the junction to be straightened.

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“Essex County Council Highways have two speeds for doing anything - which are, respectively, dead slow and stop,” Mr Francois said.

“Their much vaunted ‘A127 task force’ has achieved precisely nothing in four years and now they are foot-dragging over the Fortune of War too.

“The council tax-paying motorists of Essex deserve far better than this!”

In March 2020, the Echo revealed preliminary plans for works on the junction that could see a new footbridge built over the A127, along with a new slip road, joining from High Road, Laindon, travelling towards London.

Under the proposals, the existing slip road to get onto High Road from Southend would also be extended.

At the time, ECC said it would be Government funding to undertake the works.

Kerry Smith, deputy leader at Basildon Council, says the drawn-out process has caused chaos on Basildon’s roads.

“That junction slows to a crawl with traffic jams almost every single night,” he said.

“We have been calling for something to be done for years and we have yet to even see a finalised bid for funding.”

An Essex County Council spokesman said: “A pre-Strategic Outline Business Case Major Road Network (MRN) bid for junction improvements on the A127, including at the Fortune of War, was submitted in November 2019 and approved to proceed to the next stage of development in March 2020.

“There is a robust and stringent process for developing a business case, which is set by the Department for Transport (DfT) and must be followed.

“The DfT issued new guidance on MRN funding and objectives last year.

“We are continuing to develop the scheme and expect to submit a Strategic Outline Business Case in early 2023.”