Cumbria County Council’s Conservative group leader, Cllr James Airey, has secured an important commitment from the Secretary of State for Transport on improvements to the A590 at a meeting in south Cumbria today (2 November).
During their meeting, James Airey made the case to Chris Grayling for a thriving A590 economic corridor that supports existing businesses, and attracts more, by ironing out traffic bottlenecks. In response, Mr Grayling gave an assurance that an economic case for changes to the A590 would play an important role when applications for future road improvement schemes are considered.
Councillor James Airey said: “I was delighted to receive an assurance that the economic case for improvements to the A590 will be an important component when assessing future funding bids.
“Creating an A590 economic corridor would support existing businesses and help attract new ones. Resolving traffic bottlenecks and creating more start-up units along the A590 would help bring more jobs and prosperity to our area.
“Following a meeting I held with the Transport Secretary last year, the Highways Agency has already begun to work with local councillors to draw-up plans for improvements on the A590 between Brettargh Holt and Meathop.
“Taking this further in the form of an A590 economic corridor would see improvements being made to tackle pinch-points along the entire length of the road.”
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: “James is passionate about South Lakeland and the vital role transport has to play in helping to unlock the jobs of the future.
“We are spending record amounts on our road network and my visit to Cumbria today follows the announcement I made last month of upgrade work to the infamous farmyard bottleneck on the A595 at Grizebeck.
“The case for improvements to the A590 to help spur jobs and investment was extremely well-made by James and the economic case for further investment will be properly considered when applications for future road improvement schemes are reviewed.”