THE A120 west of Bishop's Stortford will become a congested backdoor route for motorists wanting to get to Stansted Airport, according to East Herts councillor Bernard Engel.

Mr Engel said once a dual carraigeway linked the M25 to Buntingford and the A10 bypass was complete, motorists could flood down the A120 to the airport in preference to a journey down the M11.

He was speaking after a county council meeting last week which saw his two-year fight to have the A120 improved suffer a serious setback. Suggested improvements to the road were delayed in the Local Transport Plan until after 2006.

The draft plan, which outlines major roadworks from 2001 to 2006, will now be sent to the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions.

Mr Engel said: 'We will see longer and longer queues along the A120 west of Bishop's Stortford. Congestion will increase in the morning and the evening and it will only get worse. The bottleneck at Little Hadham will become even more of a barrier to the free flow of traffic and lead to even longer queues as traffic increases.'

He criticised the draft plan for addressing congestion concerns in all directions around Stansted with the exception of the west.

'In the south they've got the slip roads to the M11 which will reduce traffic in the north on the Birchanger roundabout. The east has the dualling of the A120, but the west has got nothing.'

He said if funds to improve the road were not sought before 2006 it would be close to 2015 before any improvements could be made. By that time he believed Stansted could be catering for up to 35 million passengers a year.

Mr Engel said he will continue his fight for improvements along the A120 through Stansted Airport's scoping study, set up to consider environmental and social effects of airport expansion. He hoped his comments and suggestions would put indirect pressure on the council to change its mind.