After plans to narrow Abingdon's High Street were shelved for a year, attention has now turned to improving a stretch of Marcham Road.

Designs are being drawn up to widen part of the road between the Nuffield Way and Colwell Dive roundabouts and create a new slip lane running from Abingdon Hospital to the McDonald's restaurant.

It is also planned to create two new bus lay-bys on either side of the road to reduce congestion when buses call at bus stops.

The hospital will also have a new access as part of the £900,000 scheme, which is due to start next year.

However, residents have been warned that some horse chestnut trees would have to be felled as part of the improvement scheme.

Abingdon county councillor Mike Badcock said: "Improvements to Marcham Road are a key part of the strategy to encourage more use of the peripheral road to keep some traffic away from the town centre.

"The trees must go if this scheme is to go ahead. Some of them are diseased.

"It's a shame, because I like to see trees, but they must not stop a major traffic scheme that will benefit the town."

What is referred to locally as the Bridge Street 'gate' lights on the approach to Abingdon Bridge are to be re-located about 20 to 25 metres away from the junction with Market Place and Stert Street.

The lights on the bridge were installed earlier this year for a trial period with the aim of holding back traffic coming into town from the Culham direction when there is congestion in the town centre.

But because of complaints from drivers caught up in jams stretching back as far as Culham, it has been decided to abandon the bridge lights and move them closer to the town centre.

Work to create a wider entrance to the multi-storey car park and Broad Street will be finished later this month. After that, work will begin on narrowing Stert Street and introducing a 20mph speed limit.