A COUNCILLOR has criticised plans to delay improvements to one of the region's most notorious accident blackspots.

The Long Newton junction on the A66 has seen a series of crashes in recent years, as motorists travelling towards Stockton must cross two streams of traffic heading in the opposite direction.

Work on a new intersection was expected to begin later this year, but safety campaigners were dealt a blow when Roads Minister David Jamieson said there would be a three-year hold-up.

He has agreed to look again at the timetable for improvements, but there has been no announcement on when work might begin.

Councillor Peter Foster, who represents the Hurworth ward on Darlington Borough Council, said he was incensed by the delay.

He said the authorities had failed to grasp the seriousness of the danger facing drivers.

"Nobody seems to be listening. I have been talking to people in Long Newton and they are petrified that they have to get out this way," he said.

Coun Foster said there had been dozens of accidents in recent years and insisted there was enough evidence to show that urgent work was needed.

In October last year, an elderly motorist was killed as he attempted to cross the busy dual carriageway through the gap in the central reservation opposite Long Newton.

Coun Foster said: "We should be in the business of accident prevention, not waiting until someone else is killed before something is done."

Stockton Borough Council has been pressing the Government for the creation of a new intersection to be speeded up.