A campaign group are calling on Fulwood residents to turn out at consultation events on a new M55 link road plan.
AdvertisementThe county council is consulting on the Preston Western Distributor but also the East-West Link Road which will run to the North of Fulwood.
It is part of the City Deal which sees huge infrastructure projects taking place in the coming decade in the city, major new roads being one of them.
The Lightfoot Lane Area Residents Association has campaigned for Lightfoot Lane to be turned into a cul-de-sac so it doesn’t end up as a “rat run” once the new roads and thousands of new homes in the North of the city are built.
Simon Bond from the group said: “The current proposal for the routing of the East-West link road through the Redrow development, parallel to Lightfoot lane, seems to take an unnatural dip down close to 151 Lightfoot lane, where the first Redrow development is intended.
“This will almost certainly result in all the traffic from the Redrow development , no matter what ‘they’ say, exiting onto Lightfoot lane, bringing horrendous volumes of traffic congestion, noise pollution, onto Lightfoot lane, which has been pointed out on many occasions, as a small rural lane, it is ill-equipped to cope with.
“It has always been a main point of Llara’s campaign to keep more traffic off our lanes.
“Llara proposes that the routing on the E-W link road should follow its natural route, it started off with, and go behind Houghton House Farm, and exiting where indicated near Wychnor. This should dissuade traffic from coming onto ‘old’ Lightfoot Lane.
“It is important that the initial proposed Redrow development of 20 houses should end in a cul-de-sac, to prevent it linking into the E-W link road, at a later date.”
The residents group has produced an alternative diagram showing where they think the link road should go.
The county council is running two consultation events for residents to see plans.
Wednesday 11 June, 10am to 8pm: Preston Grasshoppers, Lightfoot Green Lane, Fulwood
Thursday 12 June, 10am to 8pm: Ashton and Lea Golf Club, Tudor Avenue, Lea
County Councillor John Fillis, cabinet member for highways and transport for Lancashire County Council, said: “We’d like to use this consultation as an opportunity to explain how we’ve come up with the preferred route for these roads, and to give people the chance to tell us what they think. This is very much a partnership project, we believe that the public are a major part of the partnership, and look forward to working with them.
“Agreeing a preferred route is a very early step in the process of planning the road and there will be further formal consultation as we progress towards a planning application.”
Do you live in the area? What do you think of the proposed route for either road? Let us know in the comments below