Nearly £3 million will be spent on improving junctions along a road in Gillingham.

Highways engineers are currently designing four junction schemes along the B3081. The work is being funded by the Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership through the government’s Growth Deal.

The Shaftesbury Road junction with Newbury (High Street) will be redesigned to improve traffic flow, and the signalised junction with the B3092 New Road will be upgraded.

The junctions of Le Neubourg Way and Station Road, and Shaftesbury Road and King John Road are also set to be improved.

Dorset Council’s proposals also include the potential for introducing a one-way traffic flow on part of Newbury and Station Road (higher).

Detailed plans will be published in July for residents to comment on.

A total of £3.45m funding will also provide improved pedestrian and cycle facilities between Cemetery Road and Station Road, and around the junctions.

The funding will enable the design of an Enmore Green link road, between the B3081 and the A30 west of Shaftesbury, as part of the Gillingham Growth Package. The project aims to significantly reduce traffic travelling to and from Gillingham through Shaftesbury.

The junction improvements and cycleway works are currently scheduled to start in January 2020 and will last around one year, with other road maintenance works carried out at the same time.

Out of the £3.45m fund, £2.7m will be used for the junction improvements; £540k will be used for sustainable transport improvements, and £200k will be used to design the Enmore Green link road.

Meanwhile, to support the proposed housing development between New Road and Shaftesbury Road, a new street within the development is planned to join these two roads.

The council has put in a bid with Homes England’s Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) for £6.3m to design, secure planning approval and build the street through the development.