Coventry Telegraph

Hospital to sell part of its land to help improve access around traffic jam hotspot

- By CLAIRE HARRISON News Reporter claire.harrison@reachplc.com

NUNEATON’S hospital is to sell a piece of its land to help improve access on the notorious traffic jam spot nearby. The George Eliot Hospital is set to release a strip of land it owns adjacent to the Bull Ring side of the site.

This is so that Warwickshi­re County Council can use it to create a special cycle lane. It forms part of the highways authority’s wider plans for the area, including tackling the traffic jams that build around the stone island close to the hospital site.

Members of the George Eliot Hospital’s trust board will meet to discuss the proposal, under the ‘estates’ agenda. A board report explains that by releasing the land, it will also help the hospital improve cycle access to the site as well as the wider area.

“As part of the A444 corridor improvemen­ts the Trust has been contacted by Warwickshi­re County Council (WCC) to release a strip of land (0.057 acres) owned by the Trust adjacent to the Bull Ring elevation of the site to enable them to form a cycle lane,” the report states. “The introducti­on of a cycle lane will support the Trust’s Green Plan to encourage people to cycle to the site.” How much compensati­on will be given by the county council to the hospital is not revealed in the report. “The compensati­on offered is in line with the independen­t valuation undertaken by Avison Young on behalf of the Trust. It is therefore recommende­d that WCC’S offer be accepted,” the report adds.

As we reported previously, wider improvemen­ts to the ‘stone’ island at the island junction of College Street and the A444, particular­ly turning left from the bypass onto College Street and heading towards the Heath End Road mini island, have been delayed. Instead of doing it as one whole project, the county council decided to split up the works to ease the traffic-jam spot into two phases.

The first phase will be to replace the existing roundabout and install a traffic signal junction on Heath End Road/ Greenmoor Road. But the county council has gone back to the drawing board for phase 2, which would be tackling issues around the Bull Ring junction, College Street, the A444 roundabout and improvemen­ts to the Eliot Way junction.

The introducti­on of a cycle lane will support the Trust’s Green Plan to encourage people to cycle to the site Board report

 ?? ?? George Eliot Hospital is set to release some of its land to help improve traffic in the area
George Eliot Hospital is set to release some of its land to help improve traffic in the area

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