Road widening works at a busy town centre junction are due to begin next week.

Braintree Council has spent more than £300,000 buying and demolishing two houses at the junction of Fairfield Road and South Street, Braintree.

Highways improvements to widen the road will aim to ease rush-hour bottlenecking in the area.

At present, the junction is controlled by traffic lights which only allow one direction of traffic at a time due to the narrowness of the road.

Essex County Council will begin work at the site on Tuesday.

Chris Siddall, Braintree Council cabinet member for prosperity, said: “This project should be finished by the summer, improving traffic flow and providing a more attractive gateway to the town centre.”