CUTTING congestion must be the main aim of revamping the North Station Road area of Colchester, residents have overwhelmingly said.

About 100 people made their views felt at a public meeting at Myland Parish Halls, as part of Colchester Council’s consultation on its North Station Masterplan.

The document sets out ideas for making the area more appealing, and potential improvements at the Cowdray and Turner Rise shopping centres.

But people who attended the meeting were mainly only interested in discussing how to cut congestion, particularly in the bottleneck junction around North Station.

Scott Greenhill, a parish council and Lib Dem candidate at the forthcoming local elections, said he was happy local authorities recognised there was a problem.

But he added: “There is more that needs to be done.

“The traffic here at peak times is just unacceptable. It’s gridlocked.

“The roundabout on North Station is just unworkable. We have almost got to start there with a clean sheet of paper.”

Ideas being put forward include introducing “shared space” around North Station, where pedestrians could have a right of way over cars.

Also being considered are replacing the roundabouts at North Station and Asda, as well as the Albert roundabout, with junctions, and making Essex Hall roundabout smaller.

Anne Turrell, leader of Colchester Council, said: “The council has agreed there is an issue down here, and this is the very beginning of sorting it out.

“We have emerging ideas and we’re asking local residents for their views.”

Laura Chase, planning policy manager at Colchester Council, said Essex County Council was investigating further ways of cutting congestion over the next 15 to 20 years.

She added: “This is partly setting out what the council would like to see happen.

“We would then use it to go and ask for money.

“We need to get broad agreement on the ideas before we can ask for money from the Haven Gateway Partnership, the county council or the Department for Transport.”

The consultation runs until Friday, March 26. For more information, visit colchester.gov.uk/planningconsult