CAMPAIGNERS are calling for a judicial review into £12 million plans which are aimed at improving the traffic flow at two key roundabouts.

Essex County Council wants to make changes to the Ipswich Road and Harwich Road roundabouts in Colchester where they meet the A133 (St Andrew’s Avenue).

Work is due to start next January and will involve widening St Andrew’s Avenue.

A double mini-roundabout at the Ipswich Road junction will be replaced with a three-lane single roundabout and a zebra crossing will be removed.

At the Harwich Road junction, the double mini-roundabout will be replaced with two lane single roundabout.

Existing cycle paths through the junctions will no longer be segregated from pedestrians, so they will share the same pathway.

However, the Colchester Cycling Campaign claims the work would impact on public health and it says cyclists’ and pedestrians’ needs haven’t been properly considered. The group also says there should be more consultation with residents.

In a letter to the council, the group states: “Correspondence to date has revealed serious flaws in rationale, procedure, consultation and design which amount to maladministration causing injustice to a range of people. There are sufficient grounds to launch a judicial review.

“Accordingly we recommend Essex County Council stops work immediately, scraps its current plans and commits itself to a thorough and far-reaching redesign.”

The group claims the design brief for the scheme was drawn up in 2011 yet only now is the council considering the effect on walking and cycling. They say that while the scheme will increase traffic throughput and possibly relieve car congestion in the short term it doesn’t encourage cycling and walking or allow for improvements.

In addition they claim the project does not consider the effect on air quality.

Eddie Johnson, the council's cabinet member for Highways, said: “Major works are set to start in January 2018. These works will support the continuing growth of the town, by providing extra capacity on our highways. We recognise there will be some disruption to the travelling public while these works take place but we are investing in a transport network that Colchester needs to support both housing and economic growth for years to come.”