Deaf ear was turned to Putney Road protests

WHILE the City Council has given the go-ahead to opening Putney Road to traffic, there are still serious questions against it, using the council’s own traffic modelling evidence. (“No U-turn on new route to Welford Road”, Leicester Mercury, November 6).

The Putney Road Say No (PRSN) campaign submitted detailed statements at the October 25 scrutiny commission meeting into the plans, which showed the new entrance on Aylestone Road to the business area at Freemen’s Common did work, but the Putney Road link road didn’t. It brings in more traffic, causes more congestion and encourages rat-running.

Nonetheless, the scrutiny commission turned a “deaf ear” and voted to reject a wealth of technical arguments from PRSN that the Putney Road link scheme is not needed and works only in part.

Also, the public record of the consultation contained an important discrepancy.

Specific predictions made in the consultation about reducing ratrunning in Clarendon Park Road were seriously misleading to the public taking part. They do not appear in the formal report on the consultation.

Opening up Putney Road with the link scheme is a major backward step, increasing traffic congestion and toxic air fumes.

This is important with the recent announcement that Leicester is not doing enough to tackle air pollution. How this fits in with the strategic direction to reduce car use and air pollution is problematical.

Even so, people need to be alert that when the Putney Road link is built, it will greatly enhance the prospects of building the Evesham Road link, something the End of the Road LE3 campaign want removed from the Leicester Local Plan.

Robert Ball, Leicester