As Cllr Hirst rightly observed, the original proposal was for traffic signals to control the junction but this was in the mid-1990s and, following strong opposition from the town council, the scheme did not proceed.

Where I would take issue with Cllr Hirst is over the question of the accident problem at the clock tower junction.

The clock tower was, and is currently, a location with a high level of accident occurrence. It has been at, or very near, the top of the lists of sites with the worst accident records in the entire county of Suffolk and has been that way since the early 1990s.

In the 17 years from 1991 to the end of 2007 there have been 63 injury accidents on the triangle of roads, which forms the overall scheme (Exeter Road, Fred Archer Way, Fordham Road and, of course, including the clock tower roundabout).

Forty-seven of these accidents occurred at the clock tower roundabout itself and continue to happen. In the last three full years, eight injury accidents occurred at the roundabout.

On the point about the enforced left turn for traffic exiting Waitrose, I am afraid Cllr Hirst has omitted one of the routes open to traffic and that is, of course, the most obvious one, which is using the clock tower roundabout to u-turn.

No-one would pretend that the banned right turn from Waitrose is convenient but it is necessary in order to reduce queuing and the amount of time it takes to exit this car park, which is a common cause of complaint.

Exeter Road is being closed at the roundabout end purely for safety reasons. The majority of conflicts at the existing roundabout occur between vehicles entering the roundabout from the High Street and other traffic exiting the roundabout into Exeter Road and Fordham Road.

This largely happens because with five legs to the roundabout and a very small central island traffic travels too fast when using the roundabout and there is little or no deflection to slow them down.

With one less road entering the roundabout, a larger central island and raising the whole junction up (so that traffic is forced to go up a short ramp into the junction) traffic speeds, and thus accidents, will be reduced.

Reducing the level of signing and white lines not only improves the appearance of the area but will have the effect of taking away the over-confidence of drivers that so often leads to aggressive, bullish behaviour.

Mr Hirst's reference to the lack of pedestrian crossing islands and road markings is misleading. Our independent safety audit did raise this as a concern but our response was not "....the consultants had got it wrong".

Our response was that we are trying a different approach to this type of junction design and we believe that it is safe and correct and therefore will construct it as intended but keep the situation under review.

It is true to say that this type of design is relatively new in this country, but we should not be so afraid of progress that we don't challenge the conventional approach.

This work has not been undertaken lightly. Far from it. It is the culmination of many years of looking at how such schemes have been developed and used, not only in Holland, but also in many parts of this country, where they have proved a great success.

Finally, I must point out that the town council has been fully consulted throughout the development of this scheme and the majority of the council has supported the introduction of a greatly improved and aesthetically enhanced "gateway" into this important town.

Cllr Guy McGregor
Portfolio holder for roads and transport
Suffolk County Council