A £6.1m project to build a roundabout on a major road has come one step closer to fruition. 

South Lakeland District Council’s cabinet yesterday advised the full council to approve a £300,000 contribution towards the re-modelling of the junction at Cross-A-Moor, Swarthmoor on the A590. 

The improvements will pave the way for 1,012 new homes, including 335 affordable ones, to be built close to the junction on sites at Swarthmoor and Croftlands. 

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A report to the SLDC cabinet said: “While a proportion of the homes on allocated sites can proceed in advance of the proposed junction improvement scheme, the new infrastructure will be essential to ensure all homes are developed by 2025."

The proposed scheme would see a roundabout built to the south of the existing Pennington Lane junction, together with revised alignments of Main Road and Pennington Lane, to increase vehicle capacity and reduce delays. 

The £300,000 would come from the council’s New Homes Bonus income, with the remaining cost of the county council-managed project sought from funding bids to the Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership and Highways England, plus developer contributions from nearby planned housing sites. 

The move will play a key part in the wider scope of the South Lakeland Local Plan, which aims to deliver 1,000 new jobs and 1,000 affordable homes across the whole district. 

Councillor Jonathan Brook, SLDC’s portfolio holder for housing and innovation, said: “The A590 needs to provide effective accessibility, especially to the major advanced manufacturing employers like Glaxo and BAE, to support their growth and also to support the delivery of new employment opportunities on employment sites allocated in the Local Plan. It is clear that the junction needs revising to ensure our wider plans can be delivered.” 

While welcoming the commitment to the road improvements, Mid Furness District Councillor, Andrew Butcher, remains concerned about the bigger picture. He said: “The need for this roundabout again proves that the addition to the local plan of the Swarthmoor housing site was wrong, and I continue to object to this because of the huge pressures it brings to the local community in terms of traffic and infrastructure needs. 

“It will be many years before any junction appears so planning consent should not be given on this site until road improvements are delivered."