TRAFFIC lights at a busy Southend roundabout should be turned off outside peak times to tackle rising air pollution, a councillor has claimed.

At a meeting this week councillor responsible for the environment Lydia Hyde admitted that air quality surrounding Cuckoo Corner, on the A127, continues to be a problem as a result of high levels of harmful nitrous oxide from vehicles.

Successive administrations have worked on the problem but so far no changes to traffic flow at the notorious bottle neck have been implemented.

Ms Hyde said new air quality monitors have been installed and junction solutions are being considered, but Tory councillor Kevin Buck has called for traffic lights to be phased as a short-term measure to stop drivers waiting at red lights unnecessarily.

Mr Buck, responsible for highways during the last Conservative administration, called for the temporary solution to be introduced until a long-term fix is agreed upon.

He said: “Before any knee-jerk reaction is taken, it should be fully understood what is actually causing the problems at this junction.

“Solving congestion in Priory Crescent at the supermarket entrance and traffic light phasing on the roundabout are issues to look at here and we should definitely look at returning to part-time signalling. Until it is fully understood what is going on here and what the implications and consequences are, we should not rush to spend public money unwisely.”

Ms Hyde said a two-pronged approach was being taken to help solve the problem.

She said: “Over the last six months I have been working with our officers to put considerable focus on this. We have now placed several new air quality monitors around the junction, including on Priory Crescent for the first time.

“As the junction falls within Air Quality Management Area 1, we have remodelled this whole area, with particular focus on Cuckoo Corner. This has identified that Cuckoo Corner is now the main area of concern within this zone, which we will now focus our efforts on to reduce. This refreshed plan is being finalised and will be publicly available in the new year.”

Ms Hyde said Daniel Cowan, leader of the council and fellow St Laurence ward councillor, was focusing on junction solutions but “air quality monitoring” aspects must be tackled first.