TRAFFIC coming into Bewdley will be "plunged into chaos" when a major through road is shut down for a fortnight, it has been claimed.

Drivers will endure massive jams and residents see the volume of traffic outside their homes rocket once Habberley Road is closed on Monday, Councillor Liz Davies said.

Mrs Davies - who represents Habberley on Wyre Forest District Council and Wribbenhall on Worcestershire County Council - said the closure will hit residents in both her wards.

The street - to be shut between Canterbury Road and Trimpley Lane - will be open to residents and businesses only during the works, which Mrs Davies said needed traffic lights to avoid a total "gridlock".

She said: "This will be during the peak holiday time where many people use it to get to West Midland Safari Park - the mind boggles really.

"We closed the road for two and a half hours about three years ago and pandemonium ensued so what happens when it is closed for two weeks is unimaginable."

Highways chief Stuart Reynolds admitted the closure - of which the start date has yet to be confirmed - would cause disruption, with residents and businesses barred from driving into their property at certain times.

But Mr Reynolds, manager of the Wyre Forest Highways Partnership Unit, said: "To install traffic lights would take longer, cause more disruption and cost about three times as much.

"You can only carry out re-surfacing works during the summer months, you cannot lay tarmac effectively during the winter - it is a temperature dependent material."

Bewdley town councillor Anne Mace said the move was "absolutely mad" while Tony Williams, who lives on Queensway, near to Habberley Road, predicted traffic chaos for the people of Kidderminster.

He said: "It is going to cause probably more chaos for Kidderminster than for Bewdley because last time it was blocked off there was a gridlock stretching right back through the town.

"The length of time it is going to be closed will give the police a very, very hard time. The implications are frightening."