A PLAN for a new link road near Pershore to tackle some of the town’s worst congestion will go before council planners.

An application for a number of improvements in Pinvin will be discussed by Worcestershire County Council’s planning committee next Tuesday (March 26) in a bid to improve the roads and junctions to accommodate the growing congestion in and around Pershore and the number of new homes being built in the coming years.

The centrepiece of the scheme would be a 420 metre link road between the A44/B4083 roundabout and the B4083 roundabout either side of the Worcester to Oxford railway line.

The link road would also create a direct connection between Keytec Business Park and the A44.

Part of the plan also includes improvements to the A44 Pinvin crossroads junction which would reduce the amount of time lights stay on green at Terrace Road (A4104) to make the new link road the main north to south route between Pershore and the A44. Both the new link road and Pinvin crossroads junction improvements require planning permission.

Changes to the Station Road (A4104) and Wyre Road (B4083) junction would shift the priority to south travelling traffic to give the same priority to the Pershore and A44 as the main route.

That change would not require planning permission from the county council. The new road and junction improvements are part of the council’s ‘Pershore Infrastructure Improvement Project’ which has been developed in response to the increase in congestion and the number of new homes in Pershore and the surrounding area.

If the plan is approved, work is expected to start in June and would last for around 28 weeks.

If the work went ahead, four trees, three hedgerow trees and around 80 metres of hedgerow and shrubs would be removed.

A 70 metre hedge would be replanted as well as 11 hedgerow trees, six trees and 130 square metres of shrubs.

Lighting along all of the roads would also be upgraded and would be extended along the west of the A44 by around 50 metres.