ENFIELD Council's cabinet members have backed plans to tackle congestion on a busy stretch of the North Circular road.

Transport for London (TfL) is planning to improve the Green Lanes to Bounds Green stretch of the A406, including work to widen parts of the road from two to three lanes.

The improvements to the road in the Bowes Park area now await acceptance by the council's planning committee when it meets next month.

Cllr Terry Neville, cabinet member for environment, encouraged TfL to complete the work speedily. He said residents and motorists had put up with years of delays for the work and that the wait had almost turned the area in to a "latter day slum".

The houses running alongside the North Circular are owned by TfL and will be demolished if the work goes ahead.

Cllr Neville said: "If the planning committee gives the green light to TfL's proposals, then work should start immediately.

"The long-suffering motor-ists and residents of Bowes Park deserve a speedy start.

"As soon as TfL can get on and demolish these properties, which have blighted the area for years, the better for residents and the borough as a whole."

Despite backing the current scheme of work to ease congestion proposed by TfL, Cllr Neville said the council's executive wanted to see a larger scheme introduced in the future.

He said the cabinet had always wanted improvements to include three lanes each way and grade-separated junctions, which use underpass and overpass road systems to allow traffic flowing in different directions to move freely at junctions.

The cabinet voted to seek a review of the role of the North Circular and decided to promote a new proposal they term an intermediate', with grade-separated junctions and measures to protect residential areas.