Work to end gridlock in the car park at the Great Northern Retail Park in Huddersfield is set to start in April.

At peak times, particularly around Christmas and bank holiday weekends, cars have been stuck in jams queuing to leave the car park.

As the popularity of the retail park grew so did the problem of the bottleneck exit into the A62 Leeds Road.

Drivers have complained about the queues for at least five years and Kirklees Council drew up plans to re-design the access.

The scheme was part of the wider A62 Leeds Road Corridor Improvement Programme aimed at improving traffic flow between Old Fieldhouse Lane and Huddersfield Ring Road at the edge of the town centre.

That scheme, funded by West Yorkshire Combined Authority, is due to start on Monday April 4. As part of the plans the current gyratory at the bottom of Lower Fitzwilliam Street will be removed and the junctions controlled by traffic signals instead.

A new access to the retail park will be built at the bottom of Lower Fitzwilliam Street taking cars into the car park in front of the TUI store. There will be extended exit lanes out into Leeds Road.

Kirklees Council has now revealed more details on the timings of the work and say the changes to the retail park should be completed well ahead of the busy Christmas shopping period.

The gyratory at the bottom of Lower Fitzwilliam Street is to be removed

Clr Peter McBride, Cabinet member for growth and regeneration, said: “As part of improvements to the A62 Leeds Road, we will be improving access to the Great Northern Retail Park.

“This will involve removing the gyratory and replacing it with two junctions. This work will start on April 4 2022, and will take around six to seven months. Between June and August 2022, we will be building a new access road to the retail park.

“During this time, access to the retail park won’t be affected. However, there will be changes to traffic flow, and only one lane will be running on the gyratory itself.

READ MORE: How work on the Great Northern Retail Park was delayed by the pandemic

“There may be some delays, but to minimise the impact on traffic, clear lane markings will be in place during the works, along with temporary traffic signals which will be monitored and adjusted to optimise traffic flow at peak times.

“Once completed, the extended exit lanes and new entrance road will improve traffic flow around the retail park.

“The junction improvements between Southgate and Bradley Mills Road are currently scheduled to be completed by the end of October.

“During this time there will be traffic management in place but there will be no restrictions on traffic movement.

“Other works will continue beyond October but all improvements around the Great Northern Retail Park itself should be completed well before the Christmas rush.”