Fears A16 changes in Kirton could affect road safety and local businesses

Hundreds of residents attended a meeting on Wednesday in Kirton to air their concerns over the authority’s proposals to turn the highway into a fully-signalised crossroads, along with widening the length of both A16 approaches.

LCC said the move will improve the A16 corridor between Boston and Spalding – a key route for the agri-food industry.

However, residents fear the changes will lead to safety issues, as well as worsen existing traffic problems along the road, up to and through Boston.

During the meeting, Sam Edwards, head of highways at LCC, said the plans, one of several A16 schemes funded by £20 million in Levelling Up Funding, would safeguard for future growth and infrastructure, including a planned dual carriageway expansion.

He said the existing roundabout was “not big enough to allow the dual carriageway to be tacked on” to the existing feature.

Residents feared the move would slow the traffic down and cause congestion in the village.

They asked why the money wasn’t being spent on a bypass for Boston and why, if traffic lights would improve the road, why there was a roundabout built at the new Quadrant development.

After more than an hour of questioning, Father Alan Taylor closed the meeting by saying to officers: “take the funds back, find the shredder, get your act together and come back later with a revised plan and a proper consultation”.

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Parish council chairman Coun Peter Watson asked for the council to carry out a full consultation with residents.

However, LCC’s executive portfolio holder for highways, Coun Richard Davies, said a rule of thumb for such schemes is not “extensive consultation”.

He said the funding was a short-term opportunity and moved to reassure residents there had been investigatory work carried out which identified the potential pinch-points.

However, he urged residents to contact their county councillors adding: “If the community as a whole feels that this is a really bad idea… and the overwhelming feeling is, if we wanted it isn’t needed, then we will go back to the drawing board.”

However, he said the scheme was not just about Kirton, but the wider A16 and South Lincolnshire route.

He also told residents the government was not willing to fund a full Boston Bypass, adding: “The reality is the days of £5/600million schemes are over, unless you live in London.”

One resident, however, told him to applause: “You say you’re willing to listen to us, well listen to this, we don’t want to remove the roundabout.”

Following the meeting, Coun Watson said the gathering showed there had “not been sufficient communication or engagement directly with the public by LCC”.

He called for public consultation on the plans, however, this was not accepted.

“LCC Highways seems to say that the A16 will get a dual carriageway at some point, however with the current bottleneck in Boston with no bypass, all that will achieve is drivers will reach the bottleneck sooner, and be queuing in Boston longer and thus is somewhat pointless.”