£100 million bypass to cut Stafford town traffic approved
A proposed bypass around Stafford costing more than £100 million will be built after being approval by county planners.
The Stafford Western Access Route will connect the A518 Newport Road with A34 Foregate Street.
It is hoped the new road will remove traffic from congested town routes. Work will begin in April next year.
Staffordshire County Council's cabinet had supported the route since 2010 – but it was only approved unanimously by the council's planning committee this past week.
It was originally in front of the committee last month but was taken away to be amended, with concerns over boundary lines and some of the wording.
Speaking at the meeting, Councillor Mike Worthington said: "It's an excellent scheme and it will improve the Doxey road as well as the traffic flow in Stafford.
"It will be good to get this going as soon as possible."
Councillor David Smith, vice-chairman of the planning committee, added: "I think we can all agree that this is an important scheme for Stafford.
"This will be a good thing from a Stafford point of view."
Despite not a single member voting against the proposal, the committee asked contractors to look at other methods of drilling when work starts because of concerns over the vibrations caused by piling.
The committee's chairman Tim Corbett said: "I am not happy with this because I think we are telling the contractors what to do in a subject of which we have no expertise."
Tony Pearce, speaking on behalf of the Castletown residents association, had raised concerns about the construction method piling, which, he claimed, could impact the old houses in the area because of the vibrations.
Mr Pearce said: "We oppose the scheme as a whole but we are especially concerned about the method of piling.
"Residents are extremely worried about this method because of the number of old Victorian houses in the area."
Piling is a method of supporting structures, it works by inserting large amounts of wood, steel or concrete into the soil of the ground.
The council said the project will be split into three sections.
The council has secured the £26.3m needed for sections A and B by putting in £2m itself while the rest has been allocated from an £82.2m Growth Deal between the Government with Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Local Enterprise Partnership.
It is expected developers seeking to build large housing estates to the west of the town will fund section C.