Possible Worcester ring road routes revealed

7:10am Wednesday 10th February 2010

Exclusive By David Paine

TODAY your Worcester News can reveal in detail the two possible routes the controversial north-west link road around Worcester could take.

Until now, Worcestershire County Council has never revealed where it intends to build the final section of the city’s ring road.

One man has already vowed to fight the bulldozers after learning – from your Worcester News – that his historic home would have to be demolished to make way for the road. The road would:

• Link the Claines and Crown East roundabouts
• Include a new river bridge l Bypass Hallow, near Worcester, either to the west or east of the village
• Mean the demolition of a landmark listed farmhouse on the outskirts of Worcester
• Run through the site near Lower Broadheath where builder JS Bloor has submitted an application to develop up to 4,000 new homes
• Cut through listed buildings, conservation areas, waterways and landmarks.

The road forms part of a £300 million transport strategy that could change the way people move in and around Worcester over the course of the next 20 years.

The Worcester Transport Strategy, which is currently out for consultation, includes new park and ride sites, improved railway facilities, including a new Norton Parkway station, improved road junctions and foot and cycle links in and around the city.

According to a report by Halcrow – completed in April last year but only recently published online following a Freedom of Information request – the link road would be designed for speeds of up to 60mph and would include a cycle lane/footway along one side of the length of the route.

Halcrow indicates both would have a varying degree of negative impact on homes, the environment, landscape and sites of historical importance.

Councillor Derek Prodger, cabinet member for transport and safe environment, denied Worcestershire County Council had deliberately witheld information from the public.

In a statement he said: “We are committed to being open and transparent throughout this process and have started consulting the public at the earliest possible stage, and as part of this we have put a large number of the technical reports on our website which have been available over the last couple of weeks.

“This is an ongoing commitment which will see us make available further technical reports as they are published.”

We previously reported how the transport strategy would be delivered in two phases. Work on the north-west ring road would not start until at least 2016, and only if the council could attract the necessary funding.

Worcestershire County Council has suddenly shifted its attention from dualling the southern link road to completing the ring road around the city.

District councillors and officers have since pleaded with the council to explain its thinking, particularly as it could affect the South Worcestershire Joint Core Strategy – to build up to 25,500 new homes in and around Worcester by 2026, which was drawn up on the basis the southern link road would be dualled.

Interested residents had also demanded to see evidence and it was only because a Freedom of Information request was submitted to the council that the Halcrow report has been published – a month after public consultation began on the strategy.

Meanwhile, a notice of motion from the Liberal Democrats calling for the dualling of the southern link road to be included in the consultation, even at this late stage, was thrown out by the Conservative cabinet on Monday.

Transport chiefs said that scheme has not been completely abandoned but believe completing the north-west link road at this moment in time would deliver the most benefits for Worcester.

• Please read our story about the two proposed routes here then vote in our poll below to indicate your preference.