The very early stages of work on the North & East Melton Mowbray Distributor Road (N&EMMDR) is set to get underway over the next few weeks.
Work to demolish a derelict farm building is now starting as part of the vital advance programme for the road scheme, which should see major construction work begin in early 2023.
However, this is all subject to a final business case being submitted by the county council and then Government approval, which is expected by the end of the year.
Councillor Ozzy O’Shea, county council cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “This enabling work is a very early step in the road-building programme.
“Major construction work won’t start until early next year, but the road will bring a multitude of benefits to the Melton area through reducing congestion and helping to remove traffic from the town.”
The demolition of Sysonby Farm is being carried out by Galliford Try, as part of the company’s early contractual involvement in the scheme.
The site is then making way for a roundabout which will join the existing A606 Nottingham Road.
County councillors will meet next week to approve the implementation of the compulsory purchase orders for the land required for the scheme. The orders have been confirmed by Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Transport.
Later in the year, archaeological mitigation will be carried out along sections of the 7.1km single carriageway. During the same period, ecological work to relocate badgers will take place together with further preliminary work, such as creating access routes for access routes for construction vehicles and machinery and the setting-up of compounds.
The distributor road is designed to take traffic away from Melton town centre, providing access to future housing and employment areas.
The road will also accelerate the delivery of over 4,500 dwellings and create 6,000 jobs.
Cabinet will discuss the Melton report when it meets on Tuesday, April 26 at 2pm. The meeting can be viewed at www.leicestershire.gov.uk/webcast
The N&E MMDR scheme will deliver a 7.1 km long, single carriageway road to the north and east of Melton Mowbray.
This route links the A606 Nottingham Road (at St. Bartholomew’s Way) with the A606 Burton Road (north of Burton Lazars), and there will be new junctions at Scalford Road, Melton Spinney Road, A607 Melton Road and the B676 Saxby Road. It crosses six watercourses, the River Eye flood plain and the Leicester to Peterborough railway line.
The county council has already committed over £4m to make the N&EMMDR scheme ‘shovel-ready’ so the advance work can start in earnest this year.
A major cash injection of £14.7m – through the Housing Infrastructure Fund – has also been awarded to the county council to pave the way for the southern section of the distributor road to be built from the A606 Burton Road to the A607 Leicester Road.
This will follow on from the work on the north and east sections, with a planning application to be submitted in 2023.
If both road schemes are completed, the overall project cost is expected to reach £160 million.
