TRAFFIC lights are to be installed on a busy road following a long-running campaign.

For six years, members of the Hanvannah Branch of the Labour Party have called for traffic-calming at the Hunter Hill junction of the A693, between Stanley and Chester-le-Street.

Durham County Council has finally agreed and work is due to start on Monday at a cost of £60,000.

Havannah branch secretary Steve Carr said: "We are elated and everyone is looking forward to it because it will make life much easier.

"There are some really big wagons use that road and it is terrifying. People are dodging across the road and it is very dangerous.

"It is an area with a lot of pensioner's bungalows and it is difficult for them to get across the road when they want to go to Chester-le-Street or Stanley."

Durham County Council and Derwentside District Council are funding the project.

A spokesman for the county council said: "We were aware of a congestion problem on the road three years ago. This is to tackle a congestion problem, not an accident problem."