'˜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’.

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.”

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.”