Lincolnshire county councillor defends Grantham roadworks amid public frustration and delays over Market Place, Dysart Road and Station Road works

Council leaders say they understand public frustration over roadworks but have defended their necessity and the improvements they will make.

Lincolnshire County Council highways executive member Richard Davies (Con) and South Kesteven District Council leader Councillor Ashley Baxter (Ind) toured Grantham's roadworks yesterday (Tuesday, August 27).

The works on Market Place, Station Road, and Dysart Road have sparked hundreds of resident comments about recent traffic congestion as well as a petition and calls for a rethink.

Accidents have worsened the issues, blocking the town centre and leading to standstills.

Coun Davies said the works would lead to 'much-needed improvement and investment' in the town.

He acknowledged frustration with the timing of Grantham’s roadworks but defended their necessity and coordination.

He highlighted Dysart Road, where flooding and deteriorating conditions pose significant winter risks.

“Dysart Road for the last three or four winters has been dangerous and almost a disaster area,” he told LincsOnline.

“Last year, I committed to avoiding another winter of flooding and poor conditions. It’s a critical scheme.”

He stressed that the district council’s Market Place and Station Road schemes must finish this year due to funding and timelines.

SKDC leaders feared losing funding if deadlines were extended.

Leaders expressed concerns that if they had been forced to go back to the government to extend the deadlines, the administration would remove the funding from them, meaning the work would not get done at all.

“We had disagreements, but once the decision was made, we worked closely with the district council to smooth the process, given their funding constraints.”

Parts of the Market Place reopened on Friday, though the rest of the works have been delayed by supplier issues.

However, Coun Davies felt the refurbishment of the area would lead to an improved town centre experience if the district council could hold a full and regular events programme on site.

He acknowledged the need to improve public communication about the decision-making and timing.

He denied allegations of a “blame game” between the councils, as statements from both authorities have pointed to the other for responsibility over the works being carried out.

“That’s not about apportioning the blame; it's explaining to people the decision-making process so if they don't like it and they think it's wrong, they can go to the people who've made that decision.

“I didn't make the decision to dig up the Market Place or Station Road, but other people made that decision, and we've been as supportive as we can. Hopefully, most colleagues we deal with would say that we have a good working relationship.

“Yeah, we sometimes have disagreements, we sometimes have arguments about the best way of doing things, but if we all agreed on everything all of the time, you'd be saying, ‘this is all a bit too cosy’, and frankly, British politics has had enough of a ‘chumocracy’.”

Coun Davies warned that schools reopening will worsen roadworks issues in Grantham, but hoped it would only be temporary.

"Next week in particular is going to be really challenging when the schools go back.

“We're in constant communication with schools and bus companies, and we're doing what we can to try and mitigate that. But it is going to be difficult.

“The first few days of any big scheme are always difficult."

He said the council focused on completing the worst phase of the Station Road A52/607 crossing to mitigate some issues.

The works' timing has faced criticism for not being spread out to minimise impact.

However, Coun Davies said: “The one thing I would say, particularly about the Station Road scheme, is that no matter when we dig that road up to do work on it – bearing in mind it’s the A52 crossing the A607 – it is going to be difficult.

“You can't work on a road that’s that busy at any time of the year without difficulties.”

Coun Davies pointed to efforts to improve the situation, including postponing the High Dyke works to avoid adding more traffic to Grantham's roads.

Reopening a left-hand turn at the Westgate junction has recently improved traffic flow, and next week a worker will help guide traffic through the railway bridges to prevent HGV blockages.

Coun Baxter said he was encouraged by the tour of the works, adding that while there are current traffic issues due to ongoing construction, the long-term benefits will significantly enhance the town.

He said the county council’s tweaks had “helped quite a bit”.

“There's obviously going to be traffic problems when you do such a lot of investment on such a critical junction as Station Road, but traffic is flowing, and when it's finished, it’s going to be so much better and Grantham will be a better place.

“SKDC is going to invest in events in the new Market Place, which hopefully will show that the work we've done can be justified and will make the town an even better place to be.”

He acknowledged past tensions between SKDC and LCC but emphasised improved collaboration between them.

He acknowledged there were some decisions that could have been made differently but said: “We're never going to be able to do works of this scale without some people suffering inconvenience.

“I do apologise to the residents of Grantham, especially the bus drivers and professional drivers, for the inconvenience, but I believe it will be worth it in the long term.”

Coun Baxter defended the decision to undertake the Station Road work now rather than delaying it, citing the need to address long-overdue projects.

“SKDC previously had a reputation for putting things off and we have projects we need to crack on with because they’ve been left too long already. I don’t want them to fester.”

“If we didn't do Station Road this year, we’d be doing it next year and we’d be having the same pain, so I’d rather we get on with it.”

He addressed concerns about residents diverting to Newark, arguing the temporary inconvenience will be outweighed by future benefits.