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On route to relief




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Calls have been made for an Ollerton bypass to help solve traffic problems blighting the town.

Campaigners want the bypass to run between the A616, at a point somewhere between Ollerton and Wellow, west to the A614 Old Rufford Road to try to take traffic from the Forest Corner roundabout.

The suggestion was originally made by the pressure group, Traffic Reduction In Ollerton, and has been taken up by Ollerton And District Economic Forum’s transport action team.

They hope a bypass would reduce the amount of traffic, which is often at a standstill at the roundabout, which has led to drivers using the village as a rat-run.

The chairman of Traffic Reduction in Ollerton and the transport action team, Mr Brian Smith, said people cut through the village rather than queuing in traffic.

Mr Smith, also a member of Newark and Sherwood District Council, said there was a limitation on how the roundabout could be developed to cope with increased traffic.

He said traffic was worse when vehicles were diverted because of accidents and roadworks on the A1 and M1 but the proposed bypass would keep them away from the town.

Mr Smith said Traffic Reduction In Ollerton carried out regular traffic surveys and one of these showed that more than 400 vehicles were using the village as a short cut in one hour, travelling along Station Road.

He said another survey had shown more than 3,000 vehicles travelling along Station Road during 12 hours, which worked out at more than a million a year.

He said: “That is a lot of vehicles through a small street.

“We have environmental problems, we have damage to properties, we have traffic fuels in peoples’ houses and excess noise in peoples’ houses.

“It is an absolute problem. It is a real nightmare.

“We can be in our own property and know the A1 or the M1 is shut. We can tell by the amount of traffic coming through the street.

“If the bypass ever came about, it would give drivers an alternative to coming through the narrow streets in the village, but the moment they have no alternative but to sit in the traffic.”

Mr Smith said traffic had queued on the A616 between Ollerton and Little Carlton when traffic had diverted from the A1 a year ago.

He said that traffic using the road because of problems on the A1 and M1 disturbed residents with homes at the side of the A616, keeping them awake at night.

Mr Smith said they were pushing for the bypass proposal to be included in the Local Development Framework and Nottinghamshire County Council’s strategic plan for road works.

Mr Smith said traffic problems caused by the busy roundabout would get worse in the future with new housing being built and increased employment in the area.

He said he felt that the bypass would be needed in less than ten years.

He said: “We want it put into a long-term scheme. We would like to have it now but we know that is not possible.

“We want Nottinghamshire County Council to put it into their plans so that in the future, when the need is more acute than it is now, we are ready to do it.”



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