READER LETTER: Traffic issues for town

I believe the council is proposing to include all of the area to the North side of Hucknall Bypass,from Farleys Lane all the way down to the island at the Bulwell end.

Although the council state that their consultation includes several methods of communication, all I have come across are a few small notices attached to a couple of lampposts on the bypass.

One of my major concerns is the impact that several thousand more cars will have on our already sclerotic local road network.

If you (like me) have wasted hours of your life queuing in traffic in the morning and the evening at the end of the bypass to, either attempt to get to Nottingham, or aim for the M1 at Junction 26, or have sat in the queue leading towards the Three Ponds pub in Watnall en route to the Motorway Junction (or Beeston, or Derby) then you will realise the impact that another three to four thousand cars will have at key times of the day on these two roads.

There are already major builds planned for this side of town, although the council’s Local Plan tells us that traffic will reduce when Rolls-Royce is built upon because it will be a “mixed” site.

Won’t it be wonderful when everyone buying a house on that site also finds employment on that site and can go shopping on that site and visit the doctors and the dentist and take their children to school without ever having to use theirs cars again? I think I’d like to live there !

Or will we find that the Rolls-Royce traffic will add to the current traffic and then be added to by the traffic from the new builds at Hucknall Town’s ground which will then be added to by traffic from all the houses which could be built down the side of the bypass?

I suppose if we’re only travelling to Nottingham we could always take the tram or the train, and if they take all the seats out of the carriages there’ll be room for everyone.

Another concern is the huge environmental impact of building on good grade agricultural Greenbelt land (Hucknall being the only town in the district, I believe, in which there are proposals to build on Greenbelt land).

Looking to the future, I suppose on a good day some clean air might waft over from Bulwell Hall Park and if all cars in the queue on the bypass switch their engines off we might still be able to breathe.

The consulation period ends on March 20. I call on any like-minded residents of Hucknall to make your representations now, as time is running out..........

David K Mills

Hucknall