A £30 MILLION scheme to improve a busy junction on the A419 is under way.

Motorists using the road near the White Hart Roundabout will have spotted new signs highlighting the works, which are due for completion in just under a year's time.

The northbound slip road onto the dual carriageway – which is too short and often the scene of delays or even accidents as cars struggle to get onto the road at peak times – is being redesigned.

Once the upgrades are complete, it will run to the north of the roundabout and traffic heading onto the A419 will no longer use the slip off Merlin Way to the south.

A bridge over the railway line will be constructed to enable the new access road.

Other improvements include widening the entrance to the roundabout from the A419 and controlling traffic by lights to increase flow.

The work is one of the bigger elements of a package designed to improve road network before houses are built at part of the New Eastern Village expansion.

The £72.5m programme will see improvements to the Gablecross junctions, London Road widened and a new road running from South Marston to the Commonhead Roundabout to serve the thousands of new homes which could be built.

Last week Swindon Borough Council gave planning permission for 2,500 houses to be built on the Lotmead allocation, just south of the A420 running east from the White Hart Roundabout.

The local authority also approved a huge new warehouse at Symmetry Park, which is said to be bringing 2,000 jobs to Swindon in the same area.