Leader of Rotherham Council defends scrapped plans for £10.7m project
“We said we wouldn't build it if people don't want it. The answer was really clearly ‘no we don't want it’.”
The leader of Rotherham Council has defended planned projects to transform Rotherham’s sustainable transport infrastructure after a £10.7m proposal was scrapped.
The plans, funded under the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS), was part of a national drive to encourage active and sustainable travel.
Several proposals, such as building bike lanes and measures to improve pedestrian safety, were abandoned after consultations with local residents revealed the plans were not wanted whilst others had already been built.
Rotherham Council leader Chris Read said: “Clearly this has not been a revolutionary change and we never expected it to be - we give people opportunities and over time that gives them different choices.”
Cllr Paul Thorpe previously described bike lanes built under the CRSTS as a “nightmare” that made roads “more dangerous”, and said the council “could have used this funding to make better walkways, better crossings.”
Defending the decision, Cllr Read said: “This was dedicated funding that we got from the government for this infrastructure. There were really tight rules on how this money could be used.
Cllr Read said the plans were made after consulting with local residents and that the council listened to the community.
“We said we wouldn't build it if people don't want it. The answer was really clearly ‘no we don't want it’.
“That does mean that the money goes away - we can't use it for anything else,” he said.
Cllr Read said the government “were really clear it had to be for infrastructure and that it had to be used for active travel measures and for measures that helped to reduce carbon emissions”, and that the council was “boxed in as to the things we could do”.
In September a petition to review all schemes proposed under the CRSTS received 3,600 signatures and was unanimously accepted by the council.
The council now plans to move forward with other plans to make Rotherham healthier and more sustainable, but does hope the proposed changes to Fitzwilliam Rd will still go ahead.
Cllr Read described an unfunded proposal to build a transport corridor between Rotherham Parkgate and Rotherham Central as “the one big thing we’ve got on our radar”.
He added that the council is also pursuing other measures to encourage active and sustainable travel, such as through the ‘Moving Rotherham’ partnership.