Portsmouth City Council rethink on M275 motorway bus lane

A traffic scheme which has been blamed for long delays on the M275 in Portsmouth is to be redesigned.

Portsmouth City Council introduced a dedicated bus lane in April for a new park and ride service. A section is due to revert to a standard lane.

Council leader Donna Jones said the layout had led to "increased and slowing traffic at peak times".

Former leader Gerald Vernon Jackson, who introduced the scheme, said a it should have been reviewed earlier.

Mr Vernon Jackson who led the previous Liberal Democrat administration which was defeated at the May 2014 elections, said: "With any project there is a need to review how it's working and sometimes it needs tweaking.

"I'm surprised there hasn't been a review for almost a year to see if there were ways of improving it - that hasn't happened and all we've been left with is queues on the motorway."

Conservative Ms Jones said: "We cannot afford to have a dedicated bus lane for a bus that travels up and down four or five times hour, when we've got hundreds of cars crammed in the other two lanes."

Cars and lorries will be able to use the left lane on a section between Havisham Road and Church Street, following formal approval within the next few weeks.

BBC Radio Solent travel presenter Judy Goodlet said: "We did see all those problems start once the bus lanes went in and we had a lot of complaints - moving around Portsmouth can be very difficult at times".