Residents react as council says it ‘can’t afford’ bypass leg

Residents of Melton have reacted with disappointment to news that the southern leg of the town bypass was being put on hold due to increased costs of £27m. One said the Melton Mowbray^[1] Distributor Road going ahead without a southern leg was “like having one leg without a crutch” and that people "are going to hop along without getting anywhere”.

Leicestershire County Council announced last week that it “could not afford” the southern leg of the project after it had “bent over backwards” trying to fund it. Inflation meant construction of the road would now cost £70m instead of £43m, it added. It was hoped the southern leg would join up the A606 Burton Road and the A607 Leicester Road.

Spades went into the ground for the overarching North and East Melton Mowbray Distributor Road earlier this year. When completed, the new, 7km road will link the A606 Nottingham Road in the north of the town to the A606 Burton Road in the east. The £115m scheme has been praised by residents in the town, with one telling LeicestershireLive: “It will be a great help.”

But some people said they believed the southern leg was essential to the success of the project, because the traffic coming into the town from Leicester was “horrendous”. It was hoped that the southern leg would allow motorists coming towards Melton from the A607 Leicester Road to avoid having to drive through the town itself to get to Oakham and Grantham, therefore easing traffic in Melton town centre.

Steve Walton, in his mid 70s, from Melton, said the news about the southern leg being put on hold was "absolutely diabolical" and "a bad decision". "I’m bitterly disappointed," he said. "It’s taken years for [the bypass] to come about.

“Oakham got one. Newark got one quite easily. We are on the back burner. Of course the price has gone up, and it’s going to go up in the future.”

Steve Lomas, 57, also from Melton, said: “They are dilly dallying around. If they had done it 30 years ago it would have cost half the price it’s cost now.

“It needs a full-on road opening, but I have come to expect it [not happening]. I’m not surprised. We moved to Melton 30 years ago and they said it would be done within five years."

Indicating the busy road, he said: “This is Monday, it’s not even the busiest day. On Sunday you would think it would be easy to come around here, but it’s a nightmare.”

Lynne Jeffery, 62, of Melton, said she felt "total disappointment in the authorities, because this happened years ago when we were promised a bypass down Saxby road".

She added: “They are just blaming it on costs. I am not surprised. I think they would have scrapped the other side if they had not already started it."

A man who did not want to be named said: “What’s the point doing one and not the other? I have waited 50 years for it and I suppose I will never see it. It’s always going to cost more.”

Cormac Boylan, 23, said: “The thing is with this ring road, they have been talking about it since the '70s. What we need to do in this town is, before you start putting roads into it, we need to start looking at a new school, a doctor's and decent shops. At the moment we aren’t getting any of it.

"The town cannot cope with the flow of traffic coming through. You close the A1 and A46 and everything gets routed through here. The southern side is needed to ease up the town.”

Simon Thomas said: “I don’t see how it’s going to work without the southern bit. If I was a billionaire I would have paid for it myself. We live on Scalford Road which is really bad traffic-wise, so we were hoping for some relief.

“There is a big development in the south as well, so they will have to come through the town. It’s like having one leg without a crutch. We are going to hop along without going anywhere.”

Mick Hawley, 73, from Asfordby, said he was concerned about traffic continuing to use ‘rat runs’ in the village as motorists travelled from Leicester to Melton. He said he was "absolutely fed up" with the bypass saga. "When I was a kid they were planning a bypass by Melton," he said. "Now we don't know whether it’s going to be there in our lifetime. It’s the Leicester side which mainly wants one.”

A person who did not want to be named said they were not surprised by the decision, and that it was "nothing new". They said Melton "definitely needed" the North and East section, and it would "be a great help". "But the other bit is not just as bad, it is more so," they added.

“The traffic from Leicester is horrendous. We are in the centre from Grantham, Oakham and Leicester. It’s horrendous in the morning trying to do the school runs.”

Leicestershire County Council leader Nick Rushton said: “Given the amount of work put in on the southern stretch to date, we would be in a good position to bid for money to support this project at a later date.

“Creating much-needed new homes, along with the schools and roads communities need, remains a top priority. We’re committed to working with Melton Borough Council, MPs and other stakeholders now and in the future, to secure cash and deliver their local plan.”

References

1. ^{^} Melton Mowbray (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
2. ^{^} Leicestershire flooding updates as aftermath of Storm Babet still causing problems (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)