Traffic lights and re-surfacing for Gaul Road March could start before December says local councillor

Work could start by the end of the year on installing traffic lights at an accident blackspot along the March by-pass says county councillor for March.

Cannon Kirk could finally start work on putting in the lights at the Gaul Road junction, which has seen several fatalities and multiple accidents.

Originally the developers were to have provided a roundabout at the junction but reneged on the condition imposed as part of their planning permission - the roundabout was supposed to be built before any of the new homes on their development off Gaul Road were occupied.

Fenland District Council started enforcement proceedings, but Cannon Kirk then applied to replace the proposed roundabout with traffic lights - a move that angered county councillor Steve Count.

The March councillor made strong representations against the proposed change fearing it could spell no safety improvement at the junction for many years to come.

But, in a recent update on his blog Councillor Count said progress was now being made on two schemes for Gaul Road - the traffic lights and work to improve what he describes as “the terrible state of the road”.

Sanctuary Housing dug up a stretch of Gaul Road to lay new drainage for its homes development and the reinstatement of the road surface left it uneven.

Councillor Count said: “I understand the two schemes to be in the technical approval stage. It had come to my attention that the road would be dug up, repaired and a full width reconstruction would take place.

“Then it would be dug up a second time for lights, pathways, widening etc (for the traffic lights scheme) with possibly only half a width or patchwork reconstruction.

“These works would both require road closures and have severe impact on the local area. This is not an ideal scenario and Cambs County Council did not have power to force through an alternative arrangement.

“I asked officers to work with Sanctuary Housing and Cannon Kirk to co-ordinate this work so the road is only closed and repaired once. Plans appear to be moving and ahead in this manner and I am hopeful work could start by December.”