‘A5 campaign will continue’
MP REACTS AFTER WIDENING SCHEME SCRAPPED
AN MP has pledged to continue to push for improvements on the A5 after a long-awaited plan to widen a busy section of the road near Hinckley was scrapped.
The scheme to turn the section between Dodwells Island and the Longshoot junction into a dual carriageway had been promised since at least 2014, only to be binned by highways planners who said it would offer “little additional benefit”.
Bosses at Highways England said they hope to include improvements to the road as part of the Government’s Road Investment Strategy (RIS) 3, a nationwide strategy for delivering improvements to motorways and other key roads, which will run from 2025 to 2030.
Dr Luke Evans, MP for Bosworth, pictured, said he was disappointed to hear upgrades on the road had been put back, and that he has met with Highways England to raise the issue.
He said: “I have also written to the roads minister, Baroness Vere to make it abundantly clear this postponement makes it all the more important that the £20 million of funding I fought for when first elected is not squandered, and that the A5 improvement project is signed off in coming years.
“This will ensure this particular stretch of road between Dodwells Island and the Longshoot junction will ultimately be improved without wasting vital funding.
“As Highways England continues technical work and other preparations on the new
RIS3 scheme, I will keep fighting to push for improvements to a road that is so important, and yet so frustrating, for our community.”
The £20 million investment was allocated as part of RIS 2, to pay for improvements to the low railway bridge over the A5 near Dodwells island, which is often hit by lorries. The bridge was named the “mostbashed in Britain” in November after it was hit on average once a fortnight.
Plans are being brought forward to build a 150-acre logistics hub on an area of land between the Leicester to Birmingham railway line and the A5, with an entrance just to the north of the railway bridge. As part of the scheme, developer Mountpark Logistics is proposing to lower the road where it passes under the bridge.