If there is one thing that sets Swindon apart from many other towns and cities across the UK, it is its fantastic transport links. It is the reason why so many firms choose to locate here and a real selling point for the town.

So I was delighted we were able to announce this week with Highways England the start of a hugely important project, which will benefit not just our local economy, but also our residents.

I am sure many of you will have sat in queues on the approach to Junction 15 of the M4, especially during peak periods.

It is a well-known bottleneck which can lead to long tailbacks on a daily basis.

However, all that is about to change with a 12-month £17.5m project set to unblock that busy and strategic junction which connects Swindon with London in the east and the rest of Wiltshire in the south.

The scheme will see the A419 southbound approach widened to three lines from the Commonhead junction and the creation of a dedicated lane on the eastbound exit slip road to make it easier for motorists to get onto the motorway towards London.

The approaches to the junction from the south and onto the A419 northbound will also be widened creating extra capacity, making it easier to enter and exit the junction. Existing footpaths will also be upgraded and a new signalised pedestrian crossing over the M4 Junction 15 westbound entry slip road will be created.

The council is contributing £4.8m towards the junction upgrade because we recognise the importance of making the road infrastructure around our town fit for purpose and able to absorb future traffic levels, especially with the 8,000-home New Eastern Villages development on the horizon.

I must also thank our partners at Highways England and Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership because this has been a real team effort to get this scheme up and running with both also investing millions of pounds to ensure it goes ahead.

When Junction 15 is complete, both of Swindon’s motorway junctions will have been significantly improved, following our successfully delivery of the Junction 16 upgrade a couple of years ago.

As a member of England’s Economic Heartland, we are also lobbying for better road and rail links to link us to Oxford and beyond and, of course, the recent electrification of the Great Western Mainline has significantly improved journey times to London.

In order to bounce back from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, attracting new companies to our town will never be as important as it is now and the recent announcement of the £400m investment at Symmetry Park, which will create around 2,000 jobs, shows we are still seen as the ideal place in which to invest.

Our transport links and excellent connectivity will continue to play an important role in our recovery.