THE Wyre Piddle bypass is on track to be opened in December and will end the traffic misery villagers have endured for years.

Project manager Des Smith said on Monday: "We have not got a firm date as yet but we will be discussing it with the engineers within the next week or two."

He added: "I am hoping it will be about mid-December. Meanwhile, there are a few things we have to clarify with the contractors."

Responses to the traffic orders relating to the proposed closure of Wyre Piddle to through traffic are being analysed before the results are passed back to Worcestershire County Council Cabinet.

County councillor Liz Tucker said: "It is possible that the traffic orders will not be issued before the bypass is opened."

Work on the bypass started in February following 30-years of tireless campaigning by villagers at Wyre Piddle who claimed that the road through the village was a death trap.

Subsequently, the issue of closing the village road to through traffic, backed by Wyre Piddle Parish Council and the county council, sparked off another controversy, to be settled when the results of the consultation process are discussed, possibly at a cabinet meeting on Thursday, December 5.