'Clarity' call over A417 Air Balloon roundabout funding

The county council wanted to get funding to solve the traffic issues at Air Balloon roundabout

Fears have been raised by the county council that improvements to a busy Cotswolds roundabout are being delayed indefinitely.

Gloucestershire county councillor Paul Hodgkinson has called for "clarity about when the works will start" on the A417 roundabout at Birdlip.

The chair of the economic growth committee said pollution, gridlock and accidents remained serious problems.

But the DfT has said the scheme would be delivered by 2025.

Highways England say it is not in the current funding programme for works up to 2021 and that this was known in March.

A spokesperson for Highways England said: "The A417 / A419 is an important link between Midlands / North and South of England.

"It has always been clear from the Government's Roads Investment Strategy that a scheme would begin development on the A417 at the 'Air Balloon' roundabout between 2015 and 2020 with the intention of delivering a solution in the next roads period which runs from 2020 to 2025."