£15m plan to ease town’s snarl-ups
AMBITIOUS FIVE-YEAR SCHEME TO IMPROVE TRAFFIC FLOW
A TRAFFIC bottleneck may be eased in a bid to help a town with fresh jobs and a “cultural hub”.
The projects are lined up for Long Eaton which suffers from rush-hour snarl-ups.
The revamp, costing £15 million over five years, was approved by the Long Eaton Town Deal on Friday. Most of the cash will come from the Government.
Erewash MP Maggie Throup said she hoped there would be job openings when improvements were made to facilities around West Park and its leisure complex.
Michael Powell, Erewash lead member for regeneration, said there was a lot of public interest over improvements planned for The Green, a roundabout at the heart of many hold-ups.
Steve Birkinshaw, head of planning, told the meeting: “On Nottingham Road, highways consultants have been looking at traffic issues and driver behaviour on Derby Road.”
But Keith Reedman, of Long Eaton Heritage Society, said some were concerned that the plan would “do away with The Green,” which is circled by roads.
Work will also be carried out to help traders recover from Covid. It may include helping them to improve their online presence.
Around £5 million is earmarked for the highways work with a report suggesting that the problem area could be changed “from a vehicle dominated space into an attractive place in the town centre”.
It went on: “The town remained a small agricultural settlement until the beginning of the 19th century, at which point it experienced a rapid increase in population.
“As with many other newly enriched industrial towns of the period, Long Eaton benefited from significant investment in buildings and infrastructure, especially in the central part of the town, where many civic and private buildings from the Victorian and Edwardian period still characterise the place.
“The Green changed from a gateway at the edge of the town centre to an important transport node between the roads to Derby and
Nottingham. There is a sense that the traffic-dominated environment has been detrimental to the quality of the local retail environment.
“Long Eaton Green is a hotspot for collisions, especially those involving cyclists. The highway design has not been significantly updated for decades,” the report adds.