DUE to the utter chaos caused at peak times by traffic lights in Woking town centre, Surrey County Council are at last addressing the problem.

After persistent complaints from residents about the lights causing horrendous congestion, Woking Liberal Democrat Coun- cillors have now welcomed news that Highways are to take action.

Councillor for Mount Hermon West, Liam Lyons, asked Woking’s Local Committee to review the traffic lights along Guildford Road and Victoria Way.

He said: “With at least eight sets of lights between the Sov-ereigns pub and The Lightbox, it is important that Surrey get the phasing correct to avoid unnecessary disruption to drivers. Many lights on the A320 are completely out of sync with each other.”

Lib Dem County Councillor for South Woking, Will Forster, added: “I am pleased the council have at last seen sense and agreed to take this simple action to tackle congestion in our town centre.

“This is very good news − for both Woking’s economy and the environment.”

In an email to members of the Woking Local Committee, Highways Manager Andrew Milne stated: “I raised this issue with the head of Surrey Highways, Jason Russell, and our Traffic Manager Matt Jezzard, and a review of the signals equipment has been carried out.

“The phasing of the various sets of signals was perceived to be the fundamental cause of the congestion along Victoria Way. It has been identified that part of the signals-control equipment associated with the Victoria Way/Church Street crossing is defec-tive. Repairs have been organised by Traffic Signals and it is anticipated that this work will be completed by mid January.

“There is an ongoing project to improve the efficiency of all of the signals along Victoria Way. It is intended to optimise traffic-flow by the end of this month.

“The crossing immediately south of the arch by Evans Cycles does not presently communicate with other traffic signals along Victoria Way. There is no doubt this has had a detrimental effect on traffic flow.”

It is anticipated the repairs and improvements to the Victoria Way traffic lights will be in operation by the end of March.