Work starts on ANOTHER of Coventry's major bottlenecks - and it won't be finished until March

The council is constructing a new roundabout at the junction of Broad Lane and Banner Lane



Work has started to build a new roundabout at the junction of Banner Lane and Broad Lane - a notorious flooding spot.

There will be temporary traffic lights installed for 24 hours a day until the completion date, which is expected to be March 2017.

The work will take place to improve the traffic flow in the area and will also allow the council to improve flood defences.

Coun Jayne Innes, Coventry City Council’s cabinet member for city services, said: “The new roundabout at the junction of Banner Lane and Broad Lane is being installed to improve traffic flow on the two roads.

“We’ll also be improving the flood defences in the area by installing surface water storage and new drainage and gulleys.”

The area around the junction is a trap for flooding, and the nearby caravan business Broad Lane Leisure is affected every time it floods.

In February this year they suffered thousands of pounds worth of damage, and in June, freshly laid carpets had to be taken up due to more flood damage.

The already busy junction will be made worse as the temporary traffic lights hold traffic up as the work goes on.

The work started on Monday - the same day the Tollbar island underpass opened to traffic.

Similarly, at the top of Broad Lane, there is the new island sitting on the junction with the A45.

The £1million roundabout has been plagued by accidents since it opened in December 2015.

The new-look roundabout saw three collisions within a week of opening and has been the scene of regular accidents ever since.

Inquiry call as halted roundabout works leave 'mess' for Coventry residents



COUNCILLORS are calling for an inquiry after council workers stopped work on a half-finished new roundabout – leaving a ‘mess’ and ongoing disruption.

Workers have ‘downed tools’ on the new junction on Broad Lane, say Coventry opposition councillors.

They say officials ordered them off site after it was decided water mains under the road will first have to be moved by Severn Trent.

The new roundabout is supposed to improve traffic flows at the junction near the former Woodlands Academy site.

The scheme has now been ‘thrown into turmoil’ with no clear finish date, say Conservative Woodlands ward councillors.

It follows problems with flood alleviation works in the area, which was scrapped.

Now the Woodlands councillors are calling for an inquiry to discover why the roundabout scheme went ahead without ‘proper structural checks and consultation with utility firms’.

Woodlands ward councillor and Leader of Coventry conservatives, Councillor Gary Ridley, said; “This project is an absolute fiasco – we need to know why it’s been managed so badly and why communication has been so poor. We’ve got no idea when this will be finished and what’s happened to our flood defence scheme. Residents are rightly concerned that the site, unfinished as it is, presents a real challenge for anyone with mobility issues.”

Speaking on the situation Woodlands Ward Councillor Julia Lepoidevin said; “Our clear priority is to get workers back on site so this project can be completed. However, soon afterwards there should be an enquiry if the Council are to restore a shred of public confidence.”

Fellow Woodlands ward Councillor Pete Male said: “There’s been a clear lack of planning and poor communication from the Council with other agencies and residents right from the start.”

This crash was an accident waiting to happen, say angry residents



Residents say a crash at new junction under construction in Coventry was an accident waiting to happen.

A car and a taxi collided on Wednesday where a new roundabout is being built at the junction of Banner Lane and Broad Lane.

One of the cars, a red Ford Fiesta, was left with serious front end damage, but nobody was seriously injured.

One resident got in touch with the Telegraph to say there have been too many accidents at the junction since the work started.

He added that workers had also downed tools.

Paul Luff, who lives in the area, said the junction was an accident waiting to happen.

He said: “We had just said the night before that there would be a bad accident.

“Then the next morning I saw it all happen.

“I do not understand why they just shut down the work and not get fined.

“You can’t just put down tools and not carry on.

“There is no other way to describe it other than a joke.

“It is an accident waiting to happen.”

A message on the Coventry City Council website says: "We have temporarily stopped work on the site while we work with Severn Trent to identify how best to divert the water main that runs under the site, this is a complex issue, but we want to reassure you that we are working hard on this.

"As soon as we are clear on the best approach our team will return to site to complete the job.

"There will be no further road closures or changes – and the junction will operate as it is now until we resume work."