PROPOSALS to radically alter the road layout in the Beaconsfield area will not cater for a predicted increase in volume traffic over the next 20 years, fear residents.

They say the plan to impose traffic lights at the junction of the A355 and London End is no substitute for the Wilton Park Diversion a £16 million project to bypass the bottleneck, first mooted in 1968.

The public were invited to offer their opinions last week on the £2.9 million project drawn up by consultants Colin Buchanan and Partners, which also aims to deter vehicles from residential areas by imposing traffic calming measures on those roads.

Mike Adams, of Amersham Road, Beaconsfield, said he does not think the proposed changes, which aim to reduce congestion at key junctions along the A355 by installing a series of roundabouts, will help cater for the increased predicted volume of traffic predicted over the next 20 years.

He added: "I do not believe it will work for long if it works at all. One has to accept that this is the best solution in a very unsettling situation. There is very little we can do about it.

"The delay caused by these roundabouts has possibly been estimated but not revealed. This should be shown to be less over the next 20 years than that of building the scorned bypass.

"Amersham and Wendover have their bypasses. We may well wait 30 years or forever under present thinking."

Frank Armstrong, chairman of Beaconsfield Old Town Residents' Association, said he thought a series of flyovers on the A355 would improve traffic flow more effectively. Town mayor Graham Smith told the Free Press he was encouraged by the plan, which includes cycle routes and a town loop bus service, but he confessed his opposition to traffic calming measures.

He stated: "I think there is a lot of common sense in the traffic plan and it is a very objective study. But I detest vertical traffic calming measures like speed bumps."

Mr Adams added: "The frustration engendered by the delays and restrictions will make most drivers much less considerate and dangerous once they get clear of the obstructions."

Comments offered at the consultation workshops at Beaconsfield Town Hall and St Michael's Church, in Grenfell Road, will be fed back into the Buckinghamshire County Council's Local Transport Plan for the next 20 years.