No improvement to A417 for at least 10 years

An accident blackspot near Cheltenham will not get much needed improvements for at least 10 years.

That was the response of Government to a Commons question from Tewkesbury MP Laurence Robertson, who was requesting information about pending improvements to the road between Nettleton Bottom and Brockworth.

Along with neighbouring Cotswold MP Geoffrey Clifton Brown, he had tabled a question about what plans there were for improving the single-lane stretch of road which links the M5 to the M4.

Transport Minister Chris Mole MP responded: "The proposed A417 Cowley to Brockworth improvement scheme has been considered by the South West region as part of its refresh of regional funding priorities.

"The region has not included the scheme in their forward programme of priorities up to 2019 and I am currently considering their advice."

Mr Robertson was not impressed. He said: "We have long campaigned for this road to be improved at Nettleton Bottom, the Air Balloon roundabout and Crickley Hill.

"To find that the scheme has been further delayed and will not be considered before 2019 is alarming and puts people's lives at risk.

"This whole saga has been very badly managed. There have been very different figures quoted for all the possible schemes and the decision has been left to the region to decide."

The news was also greeted with anger by people in the area who have campaigned for the road to be improved to avoid accidents and congestion.

David Morgan, landlord of the Golden Heart pub, next to the road as it drops into Nettleton Bottom said: "It's pathetic. There are people behind desks whose job it is to run transport strategy and they just can't get this done.

"It's ridiculous, you can't have the link between the M4 and M5 on this single lane road, and the traffic is just going to get worse and worse."

A tunnel has been suggested as one solution for the notorious route, though this has now been deemed too expensive. Most believe making the stretch dual carriageway would be the best solution.

Mr Clifton-Brown said: "This is very bad news for the economy of the area and we must keep up the pressure on the Government to do something."

He said that the Conservatives had previously promised to address the issue.

As well as being notorious for queuing traffic between Crickley Hill and the Cowley Roundabout, the stretch of single carriageway has been the site of several accidents.

A 40-year-old man from Swindon was killed in a head on collision there in March, 2008.

In January firefighters had to free a horse from an overturned horsebox.