Controversial plans for Air Balloon roundabout scrapped
CONTROVERSIAL proposals for the Air Balloon roundabout have been scrapped.
The move came after Shire Hall bosses withdrew their support for the scheme, which would have seen anyone driving on the A417 to Cheltenham from the Cirencester direction having to turn left at the roundabout rather than go straight on.
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Mark Hawthorne
They would then have had to drive through Shurdington and Leckhampton to get to Cheltenham.
Gloucestershire County Council had initially agreed to help fund the Highways Agency's trial scheme.
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Council leader Mark Hawthorne, said: "The Highways Agency hasn't engaged well with local residents and there doesn't seem to me to be any likelihood of their proposal achieving the local support the council sees as crucial to the success of any trial.
"On that basis, I can't support a trial going ahead. The A417 remains one of the biggest transport bottlenecks in Gloucestershire and we'll keep lobbying to persuade the Highways Agency to come up with a credible long term solution to the issues there."
The Highways Agency yesterday confirmed that as a result of this move, the plans would be abandoned.
A statement said: "Plans for the trial generated considerable public interest and we felt it was essential that we consider the views raised by local residents, road users and local councillors before proceeding further.
"As Gloucestershire County Council has now announced it no longer wishes to support the trial, we do not think it is appropriate to progress the proposal further.
"We will however continue to work with the council on finding alternative solutions to the congestion issues at Air Balloon Roundabout."
Conservative MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, who represents the Cotswolds, said: "The traffic congestion at the Air Balloon is a serious problem.
"I will continue my long- term campaign to find a complete and acceptable solution. In the meantime, smaller scale works, such as an extra carriageway up Leckhampton Hill, as well as alterations to the Birdlip junction to make it safer and other measures such as repositioning the Air Balloon roundabout, should all be looked at."
Councillor Paul Hodgkinson (LD, Churn Valley) has been a leading critic of the proposals.
He said: "We have seen such a groundswell of public opinion that it's time Cotswold District Council made a clear statement calling for these proposals to be dropped."
OPINION, P10
5 Comments
by grumpyoldman
Sunday, March 03 2013, 9:24PM
“So sense has been seen, but in the process maybe another 6 months has elapsed, 6 months where the Highways Agency has not had to deal with the problem and actually come up with and pay for a real long term solution.
But are we all fools? The HA puts out a suggestion which anyone who uses the route regularly instantly knows is crass stupidity, and everyones attention is diverted to preventing its implementation. Well, we fell for this one hook, line and sinker.
Has anyone actually added up the cost of the daily traffic jam? Not just from an environmental sense, but from a financial one (lost productivity, cost of wasted fuel in the queue, stress etc etc).
Please HA stop ignoring the issue because you don't want to face up to the cost of a resolution, grow a backbone and fix it once and for all with a *sensible* long term solution and pay what is needed to get it done.
If this had been addressed properly years ago I'm sure it would have paid for itself already in emissions/time saved, at a price that would have been far less than it would cost today.
The longer a real solution is put off, the more it will actually cost to implement and the more money will have been lost in the mean time. Stop procrastinating and FIX IT.”
by Janiegel
Thursday, February 21 2013, 12:47PM
“No one in their right mind thought that the HA plan would have ever worked. There was no consultation about it with local residents, and it would have achieved nothing other than congestion and more misery for road users, and residents in the local vicinity. Hooray for the voice of local people, common sense has at last prevailed.”
by Flat-Broke Films Ltd
Wednesday, February 20 2013, 5:18PM
“Brilliant news---People Power has made them see commonsense.”
by Matt1006
Wednesday, February 20 2013, 1:56PM
“So now that this mad plan has - rightly - been ditched, what are the HA now going to do to reduce the excessive air pollution in the vicinity of the Air Balloon roundabout? This was the main point for the alterations at the roundabout, so now that the traffic flows aren't going to be altered, the pollution issues will remain, and potentially get worse as the road continues to get busier.
So is the only option now left (apart from tens of millions on building a tunnel) to agree to buy up the residential properties adjacent to the roundabout, which is what their owners want? And if so, what then happens with the pub (which I assume also includes on-site residential accommodation for the landlord / manager)?
Or will the HA quietly (and privately) concede that they can't do anything to reduce the pollution, but also can't (won't?) do anything to help the residents who are trapped in effectively worthless properties?”
by FreeRadical1
Wednesday, February 20 2013, 12:04PM
“As has already been pointed out on another version of this article, Leckhampton Hill isn't the problem, so Geoffrey doesn't really know the area.
I think the U-turn by the county council has been caused by the public reaction to the idiotic plans and the proximity of the elections...”