A FRUSTRATING battle to see traffic calming measures installed at one of the “worst bottlenecks in Essex” has stalled once again.

Carlo Guglielmi, Manningtree county councillor, said the money is available for temporary traffic lights at the notorious underpass near Manningtree station.

But he was left “gobsmacked” when he discovered the works will be put on hold for at least three months.

“I am extremely annoyed and frustrated that this battle to get traffic lights installed, which I have been fighting since 2014, is set to be delayed for another three months,” he said.

“I was left gobsmacked when I heard that now the bridge needs to be checked out to see whether it is structurally safe or not.

“We are talking about one the worst bottlenecks in the county.

“I have a meeting set up at the end of January to find out exactly what this survey will mean and why it hasn’t been done already.”

Mr Guglielmi was informed of the delay at a meeting of the Tendring Local Highways Panel.

He added: “The funding is not a problem anymore – the money will be there. The problem is this frustrating news that it will be a further three months before we see progress.”

Mark Cole, chairman of Colchester and District Driving Instructors Association, attended the meeting and was left fuming at the lack of progress.

Mr Cole, from Wix, said: “I was shocked to hear that the proposed traffic lights at the under pass are now on hold for a fur ther three months.

“Given the amount of time this issue has been rumbling on, one would have expected Highways to have been ahead of the game by now. ”

An Essex Highways spokesman said: “As work began to put in traffic signals potential structural issues on the retaining walls of the underpass were discovered.

Electronic monitors have been fitted in the walls and within three months the results of this investigation will be assessed to see if any further work is required.”