A SOLUTION to traffic gridlock on the A48 through Chep­stow could come at the price of Bulwark being cut off, it is feared.

Planners are looking at ways of ensuring the road copes if hundreds of extra homes are built in lower Chepstow.

Among the solutions could be replacing the staggered junction at Station Road with a simple crossroads and a filter lane from the High Beech roundabout onto the A466 towards the M48 motorway.

Studies have shown that the A48 could cope with the extra traffic from 400 new homes on the Mabey Bridge and Osborn sites in lower Chepstow, said Monmouthshire Council head of planning Mr George Ashworth.

He told Chepstow town council a new junction at Station Road could be created from land owned by the county council in Nelson Street car park The filter lane at High Beech would improve air quality on Hardwick Hill because there would be less exhaust fumes from stationary cars.

Town councillor Phil Hobson said he was concerned that the proposal would turn the exit onto the roundabout from Fairview into "another Bulwark Corner."

He said: "Most people avoid Bulwark Corner like the plague because it is so difficult to turn right onto the A48 the only safe way out of Bulwark is onto the roundabout at Fairview.

"I don't see how they could put a filter lane in without closing off Fairview because if you have a steady stream of traffic in the filter lane it is going to be impossible to get out.

"It means that two thirds of the population of Chepstow will be discouraged from coming into their own town.

He said he would be looking for assurances that any improvements to the A48 were not at the expense of the people of Bulwark.

In reply to questions Mr Ashworth said the impact on the A48 of hundreds of new homes proprosed for Lydney had been taken into account and that the road would cope.

He said the prospects of a by-pass for Chepstow were remote because of a lack of interest on the Gloucestershire side.

"We have a line from Thornwell but it would be a road to nowhere because the Forest of Dean have no interest in a by-pass."