CONGESTION-busting work on to ease traffic in and around Pinvin will get under way later this year after being given the green light by county planning chiefs.
Councillors on Worcestershire County Council’s planning committee approved the plans for the A44 crossroads at a meeting on Tuesday (March 26).
A new 50-metre link road will be built off Main Street heading out of Pinvin to reduce the traffic at the crossroads meaning traffic wishing to turn left at the junction to head towards Evesham will be taken away from the current crossroads.
Traffic heading from Evesham wishing to turn right onto Main Street will also use the new junction to ensure the crossroads will only allow motorists to turn left into Pershore or continue on the A44.
New areas of highway, footway, controlled signals including pedestrian crossings and uncontrolled pedestrian crossings will be introduced as part of the work which is set to begin in September
Single straight-ahead lanes on the A44 would be retained on the eastbound carriageway with motorists still allowed to turn right into Pershore.
Planning chief also revealed the work would pave the way for the Pershore Northern Link Road improvements with an application expected to be discussed at County Hall in July.
The proposals were broadly welcomed by local resident Scott Boyden who told the meeting: “This scheme is required both on a personal scale for the residents of Pinvin due to the disturbance and congestion caused by the delays at the crossroads but also on an environmental scale because of the noise and pollution generated by the waiting traffic.
“The current configuration also doesn’t have a phase which allows pedestrians to cross Main Street or Terrace Road without crossing a single line of traffic.”
However Mr Boyden raised concerns about the proposed raising of the speed limit further into Pinvin and said it would ‘legitimise’ entering the village at an excess speed.
Coun John Raine registered his disappointment at the loss of green space in a move which he said ‘illustrated the supremacy of motorists over environmental concerns’.
“I would have thought you could have a got a lot of benefit of the traffic movement with a much simpler squaring of the junction. I feel this is a rather excessive intrusion on the environment on a rather lovely corner,” he said.
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