By Anna Whittaker, Local Democracy Reporter
A new park and ride site planned to tackle congestion on a major road into Nottingham has been cancelled due to rising costs.
The Leapool Roundabout Park and Ride Site near Arnold was intended to reduce delays on the A60.
Nottinghamshire County Council planned to fund it using money the Government provided for a series of local road and infrastructure projects.
But the council now says it cannot progress with all the local travel improvements it wanted to fund because building costs had increased since the money was allocated.
The Leapool site is one of the schemes which has now been scrapped – although the authority says it will safeguard the land for a possible future scheme.
Nottingham City Council led the bid to the Department for Transport (DfT) for money from the Transforming Cities Fund, but it granted Nottinghamshire County Council £7.9m to lead the delivery of a number of proposals in the county boundary.
The budget from any cancelled schemes has been moved to the remaining projects listed by the scheme.
The authority says since the bid was submitted in 2019, there have been increased costs for the projects meaning some of them cannot go ahead.
The county council says the cost estimates for the schemes are “significantly higher than originally budgeted due to a combination of more detailed design work, inflationary pressures, and additional utility diversion costs”.
“The DfT and Nottingham City Council have confirmed that no additional funding is available to meet the significant increase in predicted costs”, council documents stated.
As a result, the county council has reviewed the proposals to ensure they offer “value for money”.
Council documents stated: “It is no longer considered feasible to deliver all the original TCF programme proposals within Nottinghamshire, due to significantly increased costs, continued uncertainty over future costs, and the need to meet the approaching DfT funding deadline.
“As the Leapool bus-based Park and Ride and supporting bus priority measures package cannot be delivered within the required funding timeframe, it is proposed to continue to safeguard land for this purpose and seek an alternative future funding source for this proposal.”
Plans for the A60 Bus Priority Improvements at Bestwood and Arnold Bus Lane and Cross Street to Sir John Robinson Way are also under threat.
Councillors have considered “whether the full benefits of the proposed bus priority measures along the A60 corridor could be achieved without the introduction of the Park & Ride facility”.
The council have also cancelled plans for the bus measures on the B5010 on Nottingham Road in Bramcote and the Bus and Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV) lane on the A612 Colwick Loop Road.
The council says it will continue with plans for the A612 footway improvements.
It says it will also carry out ‘public transport infrastructure improvements’.
The council also planned to carry out works to a number of cycling routes; the A453 from Mill Hill to Kegworth, the A612 from Mile End Road to Private Road No.1 and the A6005 from Nottingham City Boundary to Ranson Road, Chilwell.
Although there is public support for the A6005 cycling corridor, the council says the proposal “carries the greatest financial risk and uncertainty” and is therefore no longer good value for money.
The A453 corridor scheme has also been cancelled as it cannot be delivered within the deadline.
The rest of the funding will be allocated to the A612 footway improvement.
A spokesperson for Nottinghamshire Transport’s Growth, Infrastructure and Development team said: “We are not unique in experiencing these cost pressures which have been seen nationally over the last few years and caused problems with all fixed budget grant funded programmes.
“These cost escalations have not only limited what can be delivered with the available resources but also the justification and value for money of the individual elements under consideration. The council has had to review what can be best achieved within the conditions of the funding agreement.”
