Funding bid to tackle Chester Road congestion

BOTTLENECK: Residents have complained of snarl-ups near Chelmund's
Cross, on the Chester Road.

MORE than a million pounds could be spent on efforts to ease traffic problems along one of North Solihull’s busiest routes.
Solihull Council has faced mounting pressure to do something about the congestion causing major disruption along the A452 Chester Road.
It has now been confirmed that the local authority has lodged a bid for £1.59million, which would be  used to address the regular queues.
Coun James Burn, leader of the Green Party group, has warned that the existing problems on the “crucial link” are set to be made worse by large-scale development in the area.
“I saw some stats recently around the volume of traffic that it’s expected to take with the building of HS2 and it’s massive,” he said.
“[Can there be] some consultation with the ward councillors? There’s a lot of local intelligence which would be really useful to harness when considering those developments.
“[The road] is under pressure now and it’s going to get quite a lot worse with HS2.”
The council’s own report, which sets out detailsabout the funding application to the West Midlands
Combined Authority (WMCA), also acknowledges that both the high-speed rail link and plans to extend the Metro are likely to add to “localised congestion”.
A range of options are being considered for dealing with the present difficulties and it has been suggested that sorting out the problems at the junction with Chelmund’s Cross village centre, a well-known pinchpoint, would be a priority.
Responding to Coun Burn’s comments, Anne Brereton, a senior officer at Solihull Council, gave assurances that there would be “various stages of consultation”.
Coun Bob Sleigh, the leader of the council, said that “information off the ground” was crucial to dealing with the road network.
He has previously stressed the importance of keeping key routes moving, particularly with a number of major infrastructure projects on the horizon.
Concerns about jams on Chester Road have been repeatedly raised by residents, who have accused road chiefs of having added to the problems by changing a stretch of the dual carriageway to a single lane and installing a cycle lane and a number of new crossings.
Late last year, Chelmsley Wood woman Fran Rickard outlined the extent of the problems in a
passionate speech to Full Council.
Speaking at the time, the Tay Croft resident had said: “The vehicles are actually sitting idling most of the day, especially in the rush hour.
“I’ve lived in the borough for 47 years and have worked at Birmingham Business Park for 20 years and I really do know this area well. What used to take me ten minutes to get to work now takes up to 40 minutes both ways.”
Solihull Council has previously said it’s important that “short term” solutions don’t create fresh problems at some point in future.