January 21, 2019 3.22 pm This story is over 62 months old

£1m sought for Boston Distributor Road design work

Councillors want to move plans into the next phase
A map indicating where the Boston Distributor Road would go. Picture: Boston Borough Council.

Senior councillors are set to seek a £1 million cash boost to draw up the design work for the £100 million Boston Distributor Road.

Executive councillor for highways at Lincolnshire County Council Richard Davies told scrutiny councillors that a letter is being submitted through Boston and Skegness MP Matt Warman asking for the funding.

If successful, the money will be used to “do the design work” and create a business case for the road.

Mr Davies told councillors: “I know this is something extremely close to the chairman’s heart in particular and I’m very excited to see what response we get because speaking to Matt he’s extremely confident we’ll get a warm reception.”

Lincolnshire County Council Highways executive Councillor Richard Davies.

The distributor road has been started by Chestnut Homes’ Quadrant development on the A16 near Wyberton and, once completed, is planned to link the A16 to the North, the A1121 Boardsides and A52 to the West, and the A16 to the South.

Residents, campaigners and political groups have been calling for a bypass around Boston for a number of years, but have so far been unsuccessful.

Transport investigations have also concluded that a major bypass would be ineffective because they say that the majority of traffic either starts of finishes within the town, not going around it.

The distributor road would include a number of major structures, including at least two bridges crossing rail, road and water.

Mr Warman told Local Democracy Reporter Daniel Jaines he was “delighted” to help Lincolnshire County Council in preparing a case for the distributor road to submit to the Department for Transport.

“This preliminary work will help to put us in a position to bid for meaningful funding for the bypass when government funding streams become available,” he said.

“I know that Ministers at the highest levels of government are aware of the growth that could be unlocked by central funding towards a distributor road for Boston, and it is no coincidence that when the Transport Secretary Chris Grayling announced his new ‘bypass fund’, Boston was specifically singled out as an example of a town seized up by congestion and desperately in need of a bypass.

“I look forward to supporting the ongoing work, both in Lincolnshire and in Parliament.”

The proposed route of the distributor road through Chestnut Homes’ Quadrant development. Picture: Chestnut Homes.

Chairman Mike Brooks called the move “good news” adding: “We’re pushing forward with a case via Mr Warman to get the funding to work up the business case for it. It would be absolutely brilliant if that money’s forthcoming.”

A petition was submitted to Mr Grayling August for funding to be drawn down from a £100 billion Government scheme, but appeared unsuccessful when it was not named in a later announcement.

This was despite Mr Warman putting the road on the Government’s radar after questioning the Transport Secretary in the House of Commons.