Exclusive: Highways chiefs in £4m blunder over bid to cut city congestion

Senior members of Liberal Democrat-led Sheffield Council have torn into their political opponents and council officers over the disastrous project, which was completed in 2006.

A new report, seen by the Yorkshire Post, contradicts repeated assurances issued by council officers over the last four years that congestion and traffic flows have improved.

The focus of the scheme, designed in-house by council specialists, was the busy A61, which is the main approach to Sheffield city centre for all traffic coming from the south.

Officers introduced a series of bus lanes and restrictions on junctions and hoped they would bring an end to the jams which paralyse the Woodseats area on a daily basis.

But it soon emerged that the much-heralded changes had produced the opposite effect, leading to angry complaints from residents, businesses and city centre workers.

The authority has since been forced to embark on a further redesign of the scheme, which councillors revealed had cost 660,000, with further changes still a possibility.

Coun Ian Auckland, the council's current transport spokesman described what had happened as "a nightmare" and said staff had faced an investigation.

Coun Auckland placed some of the blame for the scheme at the door of the previous Labour administration, but said much of the responsibility must be borne by officers.

He said: "At the time there was a 'Town Hall knows best' mentality and that was not challenged by anyone. The scheme was fatally flawed from the start but nobody listened.

"I live in the area and I am a ward councillor and before work even started residents said aspects of the scheme would never work. Not a blind bit of notice was taken.

"As a custodian of public money it aggrieves me greatly that more good money is now having to be spent to put this right. It's inexplicable how the original scheme went ahead."

The independent review into the scheme was ordered by the Liberal Democrats when they took power in 2008, after officers refused to accept that their measures didn't work.

The resulting 72-page report concludes that while some of the scheme's aspirations, including making the area safer for pedestrians, were achieved, the primary objective was not. It says the scheme has "failed to achieve the expected reduction in journey times and the improvements to traffic flows" and adds: "It cannot be stated that the scheme has delivered good value for money."

Coun Auckland said the report, compiled by traffic experts AECOM in conjunction with the Highways Agency and local residents, should act as a "wake-up call" to council highways bosses.

He added: "They refused point blank to accept that it was not working. Officers continually said journey times were improving but this report proves they were not."

The inquiry into the scheme is part of a more wide-ranging review of Sheffield Council's transport department which was ordered by council leader Paul Scriven last year. Sheffield Council's political leadership declared itself unhappy with the way transport officers were carrying out their work last September, leading to the intense scrutiny.

At the time Coun Scriven threatened to outsource all the department's work unless "significant improvements" were made in its performance in a short period of time.

He said: "If the service doesn't move up a gear then I will be asking the chief executive to look at all the options, including the possibility of outsourcing the service. We want a road network that works for local Sheffield people rather than just the transport professionals."

Coun Scriven made reference to the unpopular changes that were introduced in the Woodseats area in his attack on highways bosses, saying they had "failed to own up to their mistakes".

The full results of the internal review of the transport department's work and action to be taken will be published in the near future for approval by the council's ruling cabinet.