Residents and businesses are being asked for feedback on plans for the next stage of a High Wycombe relief road through the town centre.

The £2m first phase was completed around six months ago in a bid to reduce traffic but has been criticised for causing car chaos in the centre of town instead.

Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC) is seeking views from traders, residents and businesses before work on the £2.7m second phase starts in August.

Works will be carried out from Westbourne Street through Desborough Road to Lily’s Walk.

BCC representatives said the 520-metre scheme for Desborough Road "aims to keep traffic flowing without traffic lights or conventional roundabouts, and with fewer signs and white lines".

Mark Shaw, county council transport cabinet member said: “This is about the safety and security of people who use the roads through High Wycombe's busy town centre, and we want to make sure we get this right.”

Once the second phase in the joint scheme by Buckinghamshire County and Wycombe District Councils, and the Local Enterprise Partnership, is complete, work will start on the final phases of the alternative route through the town centre from Oxford Road to Marlow Hill.

It will include a new link road through the old gas works site to Suffield Road and improvements along Queen Alexandra Road to the Abbey Way gyratory.

David Johncock, WDC’s cabinet member for planning and sustainability, said: “It will eventually help to make the centre much more pedestrian friendly, will help make High Wycombe a more attractive town, and will greatly improve the leisure and shopping experience.”

The total cost of the Wycombe Masterplan is £14.53 million, of which £8.5m comes from government money sourced by Buckinghamshire and Thames Valley Local Enterprise Partnership (BTVLEP), £5.3m from Wycombe District Council and just over half a million pounds from BCC.

A business breakfast from 8am to 10am and a residents' drop-in from 4pm to 8pm, both on June 21, will be held at the Arts4Every1 Centre, Desborough Road. 

Meet-the-public events in the Eden Centre near Starbucks are scheduled between 11am and 3pm on June 25 and June 28.