Garendon homes see £12m for road work
A TOTAL of £12m will be invested to improve road connections in and around Loughborough - which includes the A512 link to the thousands of new homes planned for Garendon Park.
Last week it was announced that government funding had been allocated to upgrade transport connections in and around the town which includes making improvements to A512 Ashby Road and to Junction 23 of the M1.
The road improvements are to “unlock land for 4,000 new homes” which Charnwood Borough Council states relates to homes in Shepshed and the west Loughborough Sustainable Urban Extension - a major scheme that looks to build on farmland on the Garendon Estate.
A spokesperson from the coun- cil said: “The road improvements will be essential in servicing the 1,250 new homes already permitted in Shepshed together with the 3,000 homes and supporting facilities which will deliver a new community in west Loughborough’s Sustainable Urban Extension.
“The investment will also support the delivery of the recently announced Enterprise Zone, one element of which will be the Loughborough University Science and Enterprise Park, which is expected to provide over 4,000 new jobs in advanced manufacturing and innovation businesses.”
Concerns were previously raised by the Garendon Park and Countryside Protection Group in regards to the “enormous pressure” the development is to have on roads across the area.
The Government’s Highways Agency states up to 600 homes could be occupied before work takes place on Junction 23.
And plans for the development state that access onto the A512 near to Junction 23 will not actually be put in place until up to 1,200 dwellings are complete.
Until then the only access for the new homeowners will be onto the A6 at the other side of the development.
A Leicestershire County Council spokesman stated the package of work to improve the capacity of J23 and A512 is currently estimated at costing around £27m and potential contributions from Highways England and developers will be combined with the funding.
They stated the scheme will “improve access and reduce congestion for traffic along the A512”.
Proposals include: improvements to the exit from M1 J23 towards Shepshed, widening of the A512 between M1 J23 and the waste transfer site, improvements to the A512 Leicester Road and Ingleberry Road junction and improvements to the A512 towards Loughborough and new junction to access to west of Loughborough development.
The spokesman said work is set to begin in the financial year 2019/20 and be completed in 2020/21 and a full public consultation will be carried out before delivery to confirm the detailed scheme.
The announcement of funding for road improvements comes as Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) was allocated £25.87m in the latest round of Local Growth Deal funding.
The money is also to be used to develop a “nationally significant” Space Park in Leicester (£12.87m) and extend the National Space Centre (£1m).
The projects are detailed in the government’s Midlands Engine Strategy - an initiative that looks to boost the region’s economy.