A LONG-time supporter of the Halstead bypass says she won’t give up on campaigning for the new road.

Town stalwart Jackie Pell believes the increasing number of heavy goods vehicles passing through the town shows why a bypass is needed. Mrs Pell (pictured right) fears the roads in Halstead are becoming increasingly dangerous and every effort needs to be made to make sure the bypass is planned.

She said: “It’s just going to have to happen.

“You can see the size of the lorries that pass through Halstead, and it’s a strategic route.

“No driver would choose to take a longer route.

“The lorries get bigger and bigger and there are more of them.

“It’s not going away.” Mrs Pell, who is both a town and district councillor, has also argued that failure to tackle the traffic problem in Halstead would be unfair on the thousands of new residents moving into new homes as they do not know what they are ‘buying into’.

She added: “I’m not giving up on it.

“We live here, they don’t, and the longer they put it off the more expensive it’s going to get so they just need to bite the bullet.”