Traffic problems getting worse and councils need to step in

ON Friday January 20 I had the misfortune of needing to visit Halfords.

After leaving home in Burbage at around 11am and negotiating all the parked cars I ventured onto Sapcote Road only to be confronted by a stationary queue of traffic. The reason became apparent after 15 minutes of waiting and moving slowly, it was temporary traffic lights before the turning for Brookside. Guess what? Hole in the road and no one to be seen to gloat over their traffic disruption.

After conducting my business at Halfords and a rare visit to Morrison’s (for a late breakfast) I decided that my best route back to Burbage would be to head for the Harrowbrook island and back up the A5.

Oh what a mistake, queue all the way from the Triumph island to the lights. This is around midday, luckily I am retired so do not have to negotiate this type of congestion at rush hour periods when it must be extremely frustrating.

I spent longer in my car than conducting my shopping including having breakfast.

The local and county council really need to get a grip on this worsening situation, especially with the ongoing housing increase in and around the town including the outlying areas leading to more traffic movements.

Priority must be given to improving the infrastructure even to the extent of appointing a traffic tsar who can be held responsible for planning for the future and explaining to the frustrated residents and commuters who have to put up with the poor road system in and around Hinckley.

The misery will only get worse unless the council takes a serious hard and long look at this, I feel they have buried their head in the sand and are quite happy to ignore the problems.

So come on council, get cracking and make a start on doing something.

Julian Rivers, by email