'˜Money for bypass or town bridge in five years'? - Council leader hopes for '˜successful outcome' in major town scheme
Coun Michael Cooper was responding to a question from Coun Jonathan Noble on the recently announced Government scheme which could see local authorities given grants of up to £100 million to finance specific road plans.
The announcement saw the Transport Minister Chris Grayling namecheck Boston to the BBC where he said he had ‘no doubt there would be a campaign for the bypass to be an early project’.
Coun Noble said time to apply was ‘of the essence’.
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He asked the leader what plans the council had to apply for money towards ‘another town bridge and/or bypass’ and how optimistic he was that the town would see a ‘successful outcome’ within two years.
In response, Mr Cooper told councillors he had been in discussions with a variety of authority figures at Lincolnshire County Council, whose highway department would be making the application, and local MP Matt Warman.
He said they were working towards a ‘viable plan’, adding: “The exact details of what has been coined a ‘bypass fund’ are still in the early stages and some details are not yet clear, but I will continue to make a strong case for a fair share of the funding to come our way.”
“Boston is well-placed to build on the distributor road approach it has adopted with the support of the County Council, to argue for significant highways investment and I for one will continue to press hard for a good outcome for Boston.”
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He added: “I can’t say we’re going to start building a bypass within the next two years, but the big thing is finance, and finance is there. If we can get things ready to go I would hope to see something within the next five years. If we can get started within that time frame that would be a good move.”