Cumbria County Council has welcomed £5m of government funding to support further scheme development of the A595 Bothel Strategic Improvement and the delivery on the ground of an improvement at the A595 Greyhound Inn / Torpenhow junction.

Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership (CLEP) were successful in securing funding through the Government’s ‘Getting Building Fund’ and has selected this important scheme to receive the funding in Cumbria.

In August 2019, an application was made to the Department for Transport (DfT) for funding to develop and deliver the A595 Bothel Strategic Improvement. A decision on this application is still awaited and therefore funding to deliver the A595 Bothel Strategic Improvement is not agreed.

However, the announcement of £5m from the CLEP will be used to undertake more design work, survey and data collection and environmental assessment to allow the submission of a planning application and other statutory processes necessary to make the scheme ’shovel ready’ should DfT funding be agreed, said the council.

Importantly the £5m will be used to reconstruct the A595 Greyhound Inn / Torpenhow junction, which was identified as a priority for the local community during public consultation in 2018 and 2019.

Proposals to reduce the speed limit on the A595 as it passes by Bothel to 50mph are also progressing said the council.

Cumbria County Council is planning further engagement with the local community and other stakeholders to allow further comment and feedback on the proposals as the design develops and are considering how best to do this given current Covid-19 restrictions. Further information on timescales will be provided soon.

Cllr Keith Little, Cumbria County Council Cabinet member for Highways and Transport, said: “The county council has been working hard to secure improvements to the A595 in the Bothel area alongside the local community because we believe it’s a really important scheme. The improvements will not only improve journey times and help boost the county’s economy but also create a safer and more resilient road network. I’d like to thank the public for their feedback and support to date. There will be further opportunities for public consultation in the new year.”

Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership (CLEP) Board Member Dr Steve Curl, who leads on Transport and Infrastructure for CLEP, said: “We were delighted to secure funding through the Government’s Getting Building Fund for this important scheme, which has the potential to significantly improve transport links within the county and therefore assist our economy as it strives to recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. CLEP’s contribution will help fund further design work and allow essential data gathering as well as some physical reconstruction ahead of the full scheme, which still awaits Department for Transport funding approval.”