The traffic lights and other improvements are aimed at reducing the number of accidents at the busy junction while helping Heacham residents in the struggle to get in and out of the village during the summer holiday season, when up to 17,000 vehicles a day travel along the A149.

Members of Heacham Parish Council joined Norfolk County Council chairman Cllr Michael Cartiss and Cllr Adrian Gunson, cabinet member for planning and transportation, for a tour of the site on Tuesday.

The scheme also received the backing of Heacham resident Kevin Partyka, in his alter-ego of Cynthia Guttlesnurk, and former parish council chairman Les Laws.

Mr Partyka has been one of many campaigners for improvements at the junction and has used the character of Cynthia Guttlesnurk to emphasise the madness of the situation at numerous protests over the years.

Parish clerk Philippa Sewell told the Lynn News: "We have got everything we asked for. It seems to be working very smoothly and we are delighted."

Over the past two years hundreds of people have campaigned to persuade the county council to provide traffic-calming measures at the accident blackspot.

The enhancement includes pedestrian-crossing facilities, controlled access to a private coach-parking area, state-of-the-art technology to ensure optimum signal timings and CCTV to monitor the junction.