Anti-congestion cash to continue good work

More than £360,000 has been awarded to cut congestion, as a reward for work already being done to tackle snarl-ups.

The city council is getting a share of £10.7 million from the Department for Transport, which is being given to cities that have done well at cutting congestion in the past three years.

Leicester will get almost £280,000 for the current financial year, and more than £80,000 next year.

The cash will be spent on things such as park-and-ride schemes and improving bus access along one of the main routes into the city.

Leicester is one of 10 major urban areas across the country to receive a share of the latest pot of cash.

Department for Transport figures showed that all 10 areas were due to meet their targets for journey times on main roads into their city centres.

Leicester City Council's transport spokesman, Councillor Patrick Kitterick, said: "Tackling congestion is a major challenge for Leicester, and this money will play a crucial role in allowing us to further investigate ways of doing so.

"It is also encouraging to see that our hard work up to this point has been rewarded with this continued funding."

Garry Scott, transport strategy team leader, said: "This extra money is a welcome boost and will be used to begin to transform the city's public transport.

"The money will help us bring forward the park-and-ride site at Enderby and will help fund the park-and-ride bus service during its first years. It will also be spent on improving Humberstone Road to make it better for buses, as well as updating public transport maps for the city centre.

"We are planning some major improvements to bus travel in the city centre over the next few years, which will help form the backbone of the city's transport system and help the city's social, economic and environmental development for many years to come.

"This extra money will help the early development costs."