As one of the main roads into Ipswich town centre is about to suffer from up to five weeks of disruption, Suffolk County Council has held a summit to try to ensure work is better co-ordinated.

Work starts on Monday on installing traffic lights and making other changes at Barrack Corner on Norwich Road.

It is part of the Travel Ipswich project – and traffic officials expect major problems for people using that route into town.

Suffolk County Councillor with responsibility for transport Graham Newman accepted that the work was likely to cause major disruption.

He said: “We saw when there was work at the Bramford Road junction last September that work at Norwich Road can cause real congestion – so my advice to motorists would be to find an alternative route into the town if at all possible.”

Mr Newman was speaking after attending a summit meeting attended by contractors and utility companies aimed at ensuring road works are properly co-ordinated.

The meeting was called in the wake of last year’s debacle when National Grid told the county council it wanted to dig up Silent Street only days after a four-month rebuild had been completed.

National Grid eventually agreed to put off the work until nearer 2020.

Mr Newman said: “The meeting was very positive. We didn’t reach any firm conclusions, but there was an understanding that these things should be co-ordinated better in the future.”