A BUSY roundabout has been named one of the most dangerous in the country.

That is according to analysis of hundreds of thousands of traffic accidents at roundabouts across the country.

The report reveals the Aquarium roundabout by the Palace Pier was the worst for accidents in Brighton – and among the most dangerous in the country.

It placed 16th out of almost 6,200 roundabouts.

According to Department for Transport figures, the Aquarium roundabout – due to be removed in 2021 – had 11 accidents over a year.

They involved a total of 21 vehicles and led to 13 casualties.

Brighton and Hove City Council says it is scrapping the roundabout as part of its Valley Gardens project, which aims, among other things, to improve road safety.

But campaigners against the plans say the figures need to be viewed in context as roughly 18,250,000 journeys are made through it each year.

Phase three of the Valley Gardens project, the controversial plans to redesign the city centre, will see the roundabout replaced by a traffic signal T junction.

A council spokeswoman said: “The council has already looked at five years’ worth of data to assess the junction in a robust way.

“The most recent data from the Department for Transport for a 12-month period further demonstrates the need to proceed with the project as a matter of urgency.

“We are now awaiting a final decision from the Local Enterprise Partnership about the £6 million funding it approved in principle back in January this year. This will enable us to continue discussions with the local community and further develop and then build the scheme.”

Campaigners argue the roundabout will still have the highest number of casualties, even if the council goes ahead with its plans.

Conservative transport spokesman Councillor Lee Wares said “One casualty at any junction is one too many and where it is possible, the council should undertake improvements albeit we continue to disagree that the plans to replace the roundabout with a T junction as proposed is the solution.

“Based on the council’s own data for a five-year period from 2013-17, there were 64 casualties.

“Of which 11 were serious, with no fatalities.

“The council advise that 50,000 vehicles a day on average pass through the Aquarium roundabout meaning there were over 91 million vehicle journeys in the same five years.

“As I say, one casualty is always too many. But assessments of how dangerous a junction is has to be in the context of the volume of traffic.

“By the council’s own projections, should they remove the roundabout, they forecast numbers of casualties at the new Aquarium junction to still have the highest number of casualties in the city.”

The roundabout “league of shame” is based on accident records from July 2017 to June 2018.

The pier roundabout was followed by the Seven Dials.

There were five crashes there over the period, leading to five casualties and involving nine vehicles.

The Mill Road roundabout was the third most dangerous in Brighton.

The four crashes there led to five casualties.

Nationally, the roundabout with the worst record in the year to June 2018 was the Redbridge Roundabout in London.

There were 18 accidents there involving a total of 36 vehicles, and injuring 21 people.