Cash offer to get on the buses

A housebuilder is offering potential buyers on a proposed new development near Wolverhampton hundreds of pounds to buy bicycles and travel passes in a bid to tackle congestion on a nearby busy road.

Persimmon Homes is hoping to build a 360-home development in Featherstone, despite protests from angry residents.

The fate of the development, which would be built on land between the M54 and Brookhouse Lane, will be decided at a planning inquiry starting on Tuesday.

In a bid to push the scheme through, Persimmon bosses will now be splashing the cash to encourage people to be more environmentally-friendly.

They have announced that each householder will be handed £400 in vouchers to buy bikes or bus passes.

A "statemement of common ground" between the developer and Staffordshire County Council's highways department has been drawn up to control cogestion on the busy A460 Cannock Road.

As well as forking out £144,000 on the travel scheme, Persimmon will be ploughing an extra £233,000 to increase the number of 870 buses, which travel through the village from Wolverhampton to Cannock.

Campaigners fighting the proposed development said they were "flabergasted" with the offers.

It is believed traffic on the stretch of road could increase by more than 50 per cent over the next ten years, from 22,000 vehicles at peak times in 2001 to and estimated 34,000 in 2010.