Who will fund £1million A16 road junction improvement?

A plea to fund safety improvements to a problem road junction – potentially costing £1million – could be taken to the Government.

The executive county councillor for highways in Lincolnshire believes the council should not have to pay for the work at Crowland.
Coun Richard Davies says the staggered junction of the A16 and James Road/Hulls Drove (near the former Radar Corner) has been deemed safe by the Department for Transport.

In April the coroner dealing with an inquest into the death of Holbeach Drove pensioner Sheila Slater in a road traffic collision at the junction wrote to Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin calling for improved safety work to be carried out.

Coun Davies said this week: “It’s not a nice junction. I completely appreciate the campaigners’ concerns over it, but if the Department of Transport has told the Government that it’s safe, it’s my opinion that the Department of Transport should fund any work.
“Locally, the campaigners are looking at a roundabout and for that you’re looking at the thick end of £1million.
“While we’re turning off street lighting, doing less cutting of the verges and not filling potholes, the council paying for that doesn’t necessarily sit well.
“I think people believe we have a magic pot of money.”

Coun Davies’ comments came as he was asked to meet South Holland and The Deepings MP John Hayes on site on Tuesday.
After the meeting, Mr Hayes said: “Richard has gone away to consider all the options. If a roundabout is considered the best one, I would be prepared to make a case, alongside the county council, to the Government for funding.”

One of the leading local campaigners for improve-ments at the junction is Shepeau Stow resident David Barfoot, who first called on Mr Hayes to get involved.
He said: “I’m not for John’s politics but over this we’re singing from the same hymn sheet.
“Something has to be done with that junction. I do understand that it’s drivers, not the road, at fault but now we need something to protect us from those drivers.

“I believe whoever designed it should be held accountable.
“I would like to see something done urgently to help make it safer. I can only see a roundabout but it might be that somebody being paid thousands of pounds can design something else.”

Coun Pepper said last month that he was “baffled” at the decision to build a roundabout at Cowbit and not Crowland when the bypass was constructed.