THE Vale Council wants to install traffic lights at a notorious accident blackspot in Barry - but needs funding from other sources to ensure the plan goes ahead.

The council says it will bid for £550,000 for lights to be installed at the junction of the Barry Docks Link Road and Coldbrook Road East.

Cabinet members agreed to ask both the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) and South East Wales Transport Alliance (SEWTA) for funding to pursue the scheme, during a meeting last Wednesday (March 16).

Engineering consultants Atkins Ltd had been asked to outline designs and cost estimates for both a roundabout and traffic lights, as part of the bid to improve safety at the junction, where five fatalities have occurred in recent years.

A report presented to cabinet said traffic lights were the favoured option for the notoriously dangerous road, where three people died in 2009 alone.

Ceri Rowlands, who has been campaigning for safety measures at the junction for 20 years, said: "Traffic lights would make a big difference and would be a sensible option.

"It will stop people doing u-turns, which have led to a lot of accidents, injuries and worse.

"At the moment it’s ridiculous."

The report by Atkins Ltd looked at a number of areas, including highway safety, environmental impact, cost, and land acquisition (only necessary for a roundabout option).

According to the report, traffic lights were favoured over a roundabout as they would better deal with ‘anticipated traffic growth’, would ‘address the problems experienced at both Coldbrook Road East and Argae Lane’, and would not be as costly to maintain.

The junction has previously been criticised for a lack of visibility for motorists, with difficulties in joining the road from both sides, and the lack of concrete divisions between lanes.

It is estimated that the total cost of the scheme will be £500,000.

£50,000 has already been provided from the Visible Services budget for 2010/11 for 'surveys and investigations' into the junction.

Geoff Cox, cabinet member for visible and building services, said: "We will need external funding for this scheme to go forward."

A capital funding bid for £550,000, inclusive of a 10 per cent contingency, will now be made to WAG and SEWTA.

Gordon Kemp, Leader of the Vale Council, said: "It is a very serious matter, where there have been a number of fatalities.

"It is reliant on funding from WAG or SEWTA - hopefully we will get support from one of these."