A South Norfolk town is set to receive almost one million pounds in funding to help address long running traffic problems which have brought misery for motorists.

The junction between Vinces Road and the A1066 at Victoria Road in Diss is often the cause of long tail backs and delays for commuters.

But now the notorious bottleneck is one of two schemes in the town to receive money from Norfolk County Council, in a bid to reduce congestion and improve traffic flow.

On January 19, the council's environment, development and transport committee announced it would be allocating £650,000 for improvements to the Vinces Road junction and £250,000 for a new link road between Station Road and Nelson Road.

MP for South Norfolk Richard Bacon, who has campaigned for several years for improvements to be made praised the council's decision, he said: 'The investment will be very welcome news for Diss residents, workers and commuters.

'The Vinces Road junction with Victoria Road has long been a running sore for Diss. It is disgraceful that drivers have had to spend in excess of 40 minutes queuing in their cars just to get out onto the A1066.'

Vinces Road-based Midwich, one of Diss's largest employers, is just one of the businesses whose employees will benefit from the improvements.

Simon Evetts, head of UK facilities and health and safety at Midwich said the company was very pleased that some form of traffic relief was being organised to address the traffic problems endured on a daily basis.

He added 'The Midwich Group is expanding across the UK and into Europe and as far afield as Australasia, however, we see our operation in Diss as the base of this expanding global group and that's the way we would like it to stay.

'The changes to Vinces Road will hopefully help cement these thoughts as we move forward.

'In essence, we are extremely pleased with these proposals and the fact funding has now been approved. We look forward to many more successful years based on the estate.'

Deborah Sarson, Clerk to Diss Town Council said: 'This funding agreement by Norfolk County Council is extremely welcome. However it represents only the first hurdle in delivering these schemes which require third party landowner agreements and a significant amount of planning.

'It is too soon to be able to confirm when the schemes can be delivered, but the Town Council will continue to monitor progress.'

The money being invested in Diss's roads forms part of an extra £20 million which is being spent on Norfolk's roads over the next four years.