Calls to rethink road redevelopment plan
MULTI-MILLION pound plans to improve Desford crossroads and cut congestion in Hinckley have been questioned.
Leicestershire County Council is hoping to attract Government cash to support the £3.8 and £3.5 million schemes.
The authority says relieving congestion at this busy junction will reduce queue lengths, support jobs at the nearby Neovia Logistics and assist development of new mega housing estates at Barwell and Earl Shilton as well as New Lubbesthorpe.
However, road campaigners say the most pressing need at that location is not the crossroads but the Peckleton Lane junction.
And they say the £3.5 million blueprint to alter roads in Hinckley town centre doesn’t go nearly far enough.
An earlier £10 million bid by the county for a raft of road improvements failed and just a proportion remain, focusing on Rugby Road and its junctions with Hawley Road and Brookside.
Some money from the borough wide infrastructure improvements, which have included creation of cycling lanes and speed bumps, is left over and this money is yet to be apportioned.
Lib Dem county and borough councillor, David Bill, has called for much-needed works to relieve congestion in the town, as well as its main arterial routes.
He said both ward representatives and residents in Desford favoured changes to Peckleton PROUD art students at a popular Hinckley gallery have seen their pieces go on display.
Students attending classes at the Ten2 Gallery have had their work go into an exhibition at 102 Castle Street until the end of July.
Rose Allinson, one of the proprietors and art teachers, said: “The work looks amazing.
“Everyone should be really proud of their achievements. I don’t think some of them believe their work is good enough to hang in a gallery, but when you see the standard of the work produced, there is no doubt that the work would grace the walls of any gallery. Lane over the crossroads proposals, as this junction bore the brunt of the Caterpillar and Neovia traffic.
He added traffic improvements in Hinckley were desperately behind the growth of housing in the town and subsequent surge in car ownership and usage.
He said: “There is now an even greater urgent need to make a success of the bid to the National Productivity Investment Fund.
Linda Flower, proprietor of the Art Cafe, added: “We have to thank all the great tutors we have here.
“We are lucky to have tutors that have unique skills and specialisms that bring out the best in the students. Diane Sinclair teaches the pastel and mixed media classes,
“The residual £800,000 left over from the current round of improvements needs to be allocated very carefully and we hope that local opinion will be taken into account in this exercise.
“We are glad of work to be done on Rugby Road which we as priorities.
“We also see the A47 approach to Dodwells roundabout as a priority.
“In the centre of town we see as priorities a pedestrian crossing for Lancaster Road as well as a review of residents’ parking.
“We also support the need to try to improve traffic flow along the route between London Road and Ashby Road as a key priority and for the better coordination of traffic lights throughout the town.
“The problem we face is that a result of congestion and parking issues in the centre and delays at the major junctions, more and more motorists are trying to avoid these locations and driving through residential areas with the obvious detrimental impact to those affected.”
He said he hoped further discussion on works would be forthcoming. Scott Bridgwood specialises in Life Drawing, Claire Botterill teaches our watercolour classes, Kate Nuttall is a master of botanical painting, and if you can’t paint but want to sing, then Carl Hodson is your man!”
For residents who fancy trying their hand at some painting through the summer, The Art Studio and Ten2 Gallery has a series of short courses running. Meanwhile, the Autumn ten-week programme has been released.
For more information, visit www.ten2gallery. co.uk.