A councillor fears planned improvements to a congested High Wycombe road could be short-lived amid an influx of thousands of new homes in the town. 

The A40 London Road, running from Loudwater to the centre of High Wycombe, will get a £4.13 million slice of government funds for better pedestrian crossings and "state-of-the-art" traffic control - but Wycombe District councillor Ray Farmer is sceptical about the plans, fearing the addition of thousands of new housing developments in the area will make congestion worse. 

The Ryemead councillor says he has lived with the problem of traffic jams for years as he lives off the London Road, on Guinions Road. 

He said: “Sometimes on really busy days, it’s quicker to walk from the town centre back home because there are so many cars. 

“Any improvement that can be made to the road to reduce congestion would be great, but for how long would these improvements help when there are going to build so many houses?

“There will be an increase in cars on the road if all the developments on the reserve sites like Abbey Barn north and south and Gomm Valley. 

“I don’t think there is a real answer to the problem other than reducing the number of cars on the road. People should be encouraged to use public transport instead.” 

The news has had mixed opinions from Wycombe residents, with Mark Bennett saying: “Something needs to be done. The traffic in this area is horrendous. Regularly takes an hour to travel from one side of Wycombe to the other at peak times. Whether these measures are effective remains to be seen.”

Aries Javed added: “I think they should leave it as it is… nothing wrong it, a bit of traffic never hurt anybody.” 

Mark Shaw, Bucks County Council deputy leader and transport cabinet member welcomed the funding, and said it would help relieve urban congestion, improve safety and journey time reliability, and help to unlock economic growth.