Fears remain over highway congestion at Cuerden Strategic Site despite changes to plans

New traffic control proposals were unveiled at a special public meeting this week.

Around 100 people attended the event at St Catherine’s Hospice, where changes including creating three lanes on a key roundabout, improvements to six junctions and relocation of one.

But afterwards John Jones of campaign group @LimitCuerden criticised the new designs saying there were still major concerns over the impact on traffic flow.

He said: “It’s piecemeal adjustments. It’s not going to make much difference. People were saying they’re just not listening. It needs to be right and it’s not right yet. They need to go away and have a radical rethink.”

The Cuerden Strategic Site has been hailed as a “once in a generation” opportunity to create 4,500 jobs, provide new commercial space and bring big players such as IKEA to the area.

Lancashire County Council has joined with Eric Wright Construction, the Preston, South Ribble and Lancashire City Deal and the Brookhouse Group to deliver the major development.

A spokesperson for the development said the new proposals were intended to bring “further improvements to transport and connectivity, landscaping and design” and added: “We’d like to thank everyone for taking the time to attend. Some very useful feedback was provided. Updated plans are available on the website, www.thisiscuerden.co.uk and we’d encourage the community to give us their thoughts. ”

County Coun. Michael Green said: “The scheme overall is positive, but we’ve got to make sure it doesn’t cause a massive problem for the highways network in South Ribble.”