A MAJOR public consultation is expected next spring following news that a notorious A595 bottleneck has been promoted into the top five roads schemes in the country.

Residents will be asked to give their views on a bypass solution aimed at solving the long-standing farmyard snarl-ups at Grizebeck, near Kirkby-in-Furness.

Estimates suggested the project could cost upwards of £20 million, depending on the solution tabled.

In addition to Department of Transport cash, Cumbria County Council, as the highways authority, is expected to contribute a proportion of the cost and will launch a search to secure funding from various sources.

No date has yet been established for the consultation but it understood that three different solutions could be on the cards and “spades could be in the ground by 2020.”

The news was announced on Monday by Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling, who visited the area last year.

Among those welcoming the announcement was the area county councillor Matt Brereton (Con, High Furness), of Foxfield, who called on the authorities to respect the views of local people when it came to choosing the final scheme. Mr Brereton said the public had fought long and hard for the bypass and wanted the right scheme.

He said: “People here will be hugely interested in the consultation and will give the fullest possible input because ultimately what we don’t want is a half-fix.

"There has been campaigning by local people for a very long time as well as successive MPs and councillors.

"Party politics is not what this has been about for the public, all they have wanted is somebody, anybody to take us seriously. This is a fantastic improvement and a major step forward to where we were even just a year ago – this is new territory.

"Had this road been a part of the human circulation system it would have suffered a massive coronary years ago.”

Mr Brereton praised the intensive lobbying of Kirkby Ireleth Parish Council and the A595 Action Group. Responding to the news, Simon Fell, the Conservative spokesman for Barrow, who attended the party conference, said: “It beggars belief that one of the main roads in our area runs through a farmyard and I look forward to this dangerous bottleneck being removed.”

The county council cabinet member for highways, Keith Little, (Lab, Maryport) said he had lobbied hard for the project through the Transport For The North and had met with Mr Grayling who called the pinchpoint “horrendous.” Mr Little said he hoped work could start in 2020.

“We are delighted but there is still a long way to go. It is a dreadful pinchpoint and communities have done well to put up with it for so long,” he said.