Junction 9 - Update 4

They have recently added some more end-of-slip-road traffic lights here on the northbound carriageway to mirror the lights that already exit on the southbound. Now bearing in mind that some mornings, there is a LOT of traffic leaving at this junction and it often tails back onto the motorway, this will cause much worse congestion and to be honest, I don't think it is required. There are no major problems there at the moment (many of which are caused by the traffic lights next to Elmbury lodge where hundreds of cars turn right and back up to the motorway junction).
Anyway, Tewkesbury Town Council sent a letter to the Highways Agency asking them to delay switching these on while the bridge works they are carrying out are still in progress and have caused a lot of traffic problems.
It is another irony that the people who decide to install these lights and authorise their use live over a hundred miles away and the people who use these roads have no authority over them. As a general rule, it would make much more sense for local councils (or County Councils) to have responsibility for safety at these junctions and not the Highways Agency. If there was a problem, the council would ask the HA to install measures and if they refused, at least then the council have a record that they requested the measures to be installed.
There are so many things which are like this. Sure it is good to have national oversight of some things and sure it is good to have local oversight over others but why can't people sit down and really think about the best way to make these things work and apportion responsibility correctly?