A HUGE multi-million pound funding bid to straighten a key junction on the A127 could help tackle Basildon’s poor air quality, it has been revealed.

Essex County Council has submitted a strategic outline case to the Department for Transport, with proposed improvements including realigning and straightening the Fortune of War junction.

This is for a proposed package of improvements on the A127, the next stage of the bidding process for major roads network funding.

Additional work would see an eastbound lane created between the Halfway House and Dunton junctions.

County Hall has told the Echo tackling pollution at the notorious roundabout is a big priority, but is not the reason behind the move to change the road.

Parts of the A127 are well above legal limits for nitrogen dioxide.

A spokesman for Essex County Council said: “We are continuing to work closely with colleagues at Basildon Council to monitor air quality in the borough.

“We have taken action to lower vehicle emissions on the A127 and reduce people’s exposure to air pollution along East Mayne.

“However, the latest monitoring shows hotspots in Basildon where the legal limit for nitrogen dioxide at the roadside is still exceeded.

“The Basildon Enterprise Corridor is a busy business area and through-route for many vehicles, with congestion and traffic worsening the air quality problems caused by vehicle emissions.

“Air quality will gradually improve over time and the latest data shows a reduction in nitrogen dioxide concentrations. However, we recognise further measures must be considered to improve air quality further in these localised hotspots.”

In 2020, the 50mph limit on the A127 was introduced in a bid to reduce pollution, which County Hall says has already been successful.

Rayleigh and Wickford MP, Mark Francois, hopes the changes at the roundabout will improve air quality.

He said: “There have been persistent air-quality issues, especially along the Laindon to Pitsea stretch of the A127, for years.

“Tens of thousands of vehicles having to slow right down and then accelerate away, normally twice every day at the Fortune of War, only adds materially to those emissions, which is why I’ve campaigned, for years, to have it straightened out, including with previous Environment Ministers at Defra.”