Councillors bid for millions of pounds to tackle Harborough's traffic congestion

They are battling to get millions of pounds of government cash to back the effort after meeting Harborough district councillors at County Hall.

Cllr Blake Pain, the county’s cabinet member for environment and transport, said: “Improving traffic congestion and improving air quality is a top priority.

“That’s why we’re working hard to draw up a bid for millions of pounds of government money to support Market Harborough Strategic Transport plan, which was consulted upon and supported by the County and Harborough District Council in 2017.”

He added: “We worked closely with the district council to find out what was important to residents and were pleased that response levels were so high.

“Now, we’re looking at ideas put forward assessing how they fit with the funding criteria before working with the district council to jointly develop this significant bid.”

Cllr Pain spoke after meeting a cross-party district council delegation including Barry Champion, Phil Knowles, Barbara Johnson and Peter James along with county councillor Sarah Hill.

Cllr Knowles, Opposition leader on Harborough council, said: “We are delighted to have held wide-ranging discussions.

“Traffic congestion, parking, pedestrian crossings, cycle lanes, infrastructure and air quality were all high on the agenda.”

The Harborough councillors said they stressed at the get-together it was crucial to protect bus services in an area with “an ageing population”.