Improvements to the roundabout on the A511 - next to the proposed Money Hill housing development - may not happen until later in the year.

It was built to provide access to the new estate when it is completed.

But it has attracted criticism from motorists describing near misses - with one social media contributor calling the westbound carriageway a 'loop of stupidity'.

Drivers heading eastbound merge with traffic coming from the roundabout - a situation that will increase in numbers when the houses are built.

Those coming from the direction of the Tesco store have to use the right-hand lane to avoid ending up in the mainly still-to-be-built housing estate.

But Ashby de la Zouch Town Council's planning committee heard on Monday that planned work on improving the route - which was to have started next month - has been delayed.

Committee chair, Cllr Tom Stanley, told councillors: "One of the items the Money Hill Steering Group is looking at is the roundabout and the access from the A511.

"It's been nearly a year since a risk assessment was completed on that roundabout following its installation.

"In that time, I've been in touch with the developers and the County Council about it.

"Last Autumn, the developers felt they'd be in a position to make alterations in March.

"There has been no sign of anything happening, so we asked for an update, unfortunately, the developers haven't come back with anything.

"But the County Council said that the proposal from the developers to alter the roundabout was rejected and have asked for more modelling.

"Apparently, the modelling conducted wasn't comprehensive enough for the county to be satisfied in terms of the capacity of the road.

"My understanding is that they're now looking at some point later in the year.

"As a Town Council, this is not what we wanted. We wanted it to be resolved way in advance of those houses starting to fill up on Money Hill.

"As we know, they are now quite a few people living up there.

"As a steering group, we'll continue to lobby both developers and county to get a resolution to this.

"It is an issue that's ongoing, I think everyone in this room has seen a near miss at that site."