Government denies plans for a Cotswold motorway (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Government denies plans for a Cotswold motorway

THE Government this week denied it had any plans to convert the A417 - A419 into a fully-fledged motorway.

Reports about the aim of "certain agencies" had come from Christine Shine, Cotswolds representative of pressure group Transport 2000.

Mrs Shine of Elkstone Manor had told the Standard there was "absolutely no doubt" that "certain agencies" were pushing ahead with the aim of converting the route into a motorway.

The trunk road, upgraded to a dual carriageway five years ago at a cost of £112million, links the M5 near Gloucester to the M4 outside Swindon.

Mrs Shine claimed the latest evidence of plans to further upgrade the road was at Blunsdon near Swindon, and from there southwards to the M4.

There were plans, she said, for another fly-over and six-lane entry on to the A419 at Junction 15 of the motorway.

She further claimed that when she recently met Transport minister John Spellar he told her he had no idea the road was a contentious issue, and said he had been 'sold' the Blunsdon by-pass as "an innocuous little local relief road."

Mrs Shine added that the new motorway would carry in excess of 55,000 vehicles a day, almost exactly double the current figure.

She appealed to anyone with a view on the situation to write to Mr Spellar.

But a Government spokesman declared: "There are no plans to upgrade the road to a motorway."

The Blunsdon by-pass, he went on, would simply replace an existing dual carriageway through Blunsdon with a new stretch of dual carriageway.

And whilst there were plans for a two-level junction to take the A419 over or under the Commonhead roundabout near Blunsdon, it had not yet been decided whether it would be by way of a fly-over or an underpass.

As for a six-lane entry to the A419, he said, the South West Multi Modal transport study had looked at the M4 and recommended that the A419 should have a third lane added to each carriageway between Commonhead and the M4.

"However that is still with the Regional Assembly," said the spokesman, "and will go to the Secretary of State for Transport later in the year.

"No decisions have been made."