THE man who plans to stand for the Conservatives in Taunton at the next General Election has called for action to beat traffic gridlock in the county town.

Mark Formosa said congestion, particularly during rush hour when the town "grinds to a halt", is one of the major concerns for locals.

And he believes things will soon get worse as Taunton loses a number of car parks during regeneration work.

"It's not rocket science to see that a lot of the congestion problems on the roads are caused by having too many traffic lights," said Mr Formosa.

"Driving into the multi-storey car park from Wellington, for instance, means motorists have to go through no less than 10 sets of traffic lights.

"It's even worse in East Reach, where row after row of traffic lights are set just yards apart from each other - this often results in massive tailbacks right outside the town in every direction."

He added that two planned relief roads were a case of "shutting the stable door after the horse had bolted".

He said: "The fear is that these roads will just shift the problem from one place to another and do little to help the flow of traffic."

Mr Formosa wants Somerset County and Taunton Deane Council representatives to get together and come up with "achievable solutions".

"This congestion has gone on far too long and I believe the time has come for firm action to resolve it," said Mark Formosa.