Woolwell residents and other users of the A386 Tavistock Road are up in arms about delays that they see as avoidable.

Major roadworks are underway but apart from buses and emergency vehicles people cannot turn right at the Woolwell roundabout but must instead continue up to the Belliver roundabout and double back down to reach Woolwell most of which is one-lane only.

This is causing serious congestion, especially at peak times mostly affecting the right-hand lane on approach to Belliver roundabout and traffic approaching the roundabout from the Yelverton direction.

Woolwell SHDC Cllr Nicky Hopwood said: “The situation with the traffic on the A386 is frustrating and causing residents unacceptable delays of up to 45 minutes just to travel from the Plessey roundabout to the Woolwell turning.

“I cannot understand and have asked for a reason from Plymouth City Council as to why this right hand turn cannot be reopened but have so far not received a response.

“To think that the Woolwell right turn will not reopen till December doesn’t help those residents who daily get caught in traffic jams.

“Plymouth City Council need to listen to the views of people using this route and act upon their very reasonable request which is to I repeat open the right turn in to Woolwell.

“All I am asking for is that this is opened to see if it helps with the situation.

“If it doesn’t then close it again but at least we would know.

The Leader of Plymouth City Council Cllr Tudor Evans said in an e-mail: ‘Thank you for raising your concerns about the necessary improvements to the A386.

Like all major road schemes we plan the traffic management works well in advance and where issues arise we do make alterations as the work proceeds.

We are well aware of the problems that you are experiencing and have visited the site to see for ourselves.

I met urgently with Council officials today, and they have already made arrangements for our engineers who are on site now to consider what adjustments can be made to improve the through flow of traffic on this stretch of the road.

I have already received confirmation from the signal engineers that they were able to adjust the timing of the traffic lights to ensure that there is a 30 second wait before the red light will kick in when the traffic is busy.

They will continue to monitor the situation and make further amendments if necessary.

We are hopeful that any additional adjustments will be able to be put into place over the weekend or first thing next week, but at this stage we are not able to confirm that.

Thank you for your patience and understanding while we work to resolve this.

Please be assured we are giving this our urgent attention.’