A £347,000 project to help bring an end to the misery of traffic congestion in London Road, Devizes, is set to be completed by the end of the year.

Traffic lights are to be put in all three directions at the roundabout where Windsor Drive meets London Road and will be phased to give traffic on the main A361 more time to get through the junction.

Wiltshire Council's cabinet member for highways Philip Whitehead said: "We are confident this will help traffic movement on London Road as at the moment it is held up by traffic joining from Windsor Drive.

"It makes sense for the main route to have priority and the lights will be phased to give this traffic longer on green to keep the traffic moving."

But he said this scheme alone, which is being paid for by Section 106 cash from developers who have built in the area, would not solve all of Devizes traffic problems.

He said: "This is a move in the right direction but it is not the complete answer. We hope to do something at Shanes Castle in Bath Road in the future when we get more money from developers."

The London Road project has been in the pipeline for a while but was delayed until after the public inquiry into homes at Coate Bridge was announced.

Mr Whitehead said: "If that scheme had been allowed we could have used the contribution from the developer for this project and used what we already had from other builders for different schemes."

But money from David Wilson Homes, who are building at Lay Wood, could be available towards the Shanes Castle scheme, which is expected to cost £600,000.

Wiltshire councillor Laura Mayes said she was delighted the traffic light scheme was going ahead. She said: "I am very happy this is at last progressing. I have high hopes that this will make a real difference. I live close to London Road and I know the misery the traffic problems can cause."

Mr Whitehead said once work started it would take about three weeks to complete and would cause disruption. He said: "We have to go through the disruption to get to the improvements."

He said the lights on a pedestrian crossing in Windsor Drive would be synchronised so that they were not on red when the main lights at the junction were on green.

Devizes Town Council has also welcomed the scheme.

Town clerk Sarah Todhunter said: "We are hopeful this will make a real difference."

Money for the scheme was agreed by the area board after a recommendation from the Devizes Air Quality and Transport Strategy Group.