14/12/2004 - More studies for Kendal Northern Development Route

Cumbria County Council’s Cabinet will be asked to endorse further investigation into the benefits of a Kendal Northern Development Road (KNDR) at its meeting next week, Tuesday, 21 December.

Councillors are being asked to support further detailed studies of the socio-economic benefits of the KNDR in the latest stage of the process of assessing options for a new road linking the A591 to the west of Kendal and the A6 to the east.

The KNDR was conceived to help bring about long-term reductions of traffic congestion in Kendal town centre and to improve the area's economic development by providing better transport links for employment sites around Shap Road area.

In July last year the KNDR was selected by the full council as the county’s preferred major transport scheme to be put to the Government for approval as part of the county's Local Transport Plan (LTP) for the period 2005/6 to 2010/11.

In the ongoing Stage 2 assessment of the scheme, engineers have been looking at the relative merits of five possible routes for a new road: one of the routes is to the north of Burneside, the other four are to the south.

Once completed, the stage two assessment will be discussed with statutory bodies before going out to widespread public consultation.

The additional investigations due to be considered by cabinet would study in more detail the potential socio-economic benefits of the KNDR and aim to bolster the case for the construction of the route.

The county council must submit its proposals to Government Office North West in July 2005.

Kevan Wilkinson, county council cabinet member for transport, said: "Developing this sort of major road scheme is a complicated and time-consuming business. There is no guarantee that the Government will give the go-ahead for any major scheme in the county and further investigations should enable us to make the strongest possible case for getting funding for a Kendal Northern Development Road."

The cabinet meeting will be held at The Courts in Carlisleat 10am, Tuesday, 21 December.