Unpopular traffic scheme set to be reversed by councillors

Sheffield Council’s previous Labour administration oversaw the introduction of bus lanes and a bus gate on the A61 Chesterfield Road in 2007 in a scheme they claimed would improve journey times on the route.

The A61 carries the vast majority of traffic travelling to and from the south of Sheffield into the city centre, but jams happen in the Woodseats area where the road narrows and there are shops and pubs.

People who live in the area had complained to the council about traffic problems before the controversial measures were brought in, and traffic chiefs said the restrictions would help the situation.

Earlier this year, independent experts were brought in by the Liberal Democrats, who are now in charge of the council, to examine the scheme. The resulting report says the scheme has not worked.

Leading Liberal Democrat councillors have blamed the authority’s transport officers for the situation, saying they had shown a “town hall knows best” attitude and tore into Labour opponents over the issue.

But opposition councillors have questioned the Lib Dems’ motives for making the changes now, claiming they were making a populist move ahead of local elections in May in which they face losing power.

The report will be placed before Sheffield Council’s cabinet highways committee, which makes decisions over roads projects, on Thursday and councillors are expected to rule that the measures are scrapped.

Speaking ahead of the meeting yesterday, Lib Dem councillors said the bus gate, just below the Morrison’s superstore on the A61 at the junction of Abbey Lane, had been “extremely unpopular” for four years.

Coun Simon Clement-Jones, the Liberal Democrat councillor for the Beauchief and Greenhill ward and the council’s current finance spokesman, said: “Many of my constituents pass through this junction daily.

“They have been incensed by the change put in by Labour back in 2007. It’s great news for them that we have got the council to admit it was a mistake and a change back is on the cards.

“Local Liberal Democrat councillors on the council have been fighting long and hard for this ever since 2007. Despite overwhelming evidence, Labour councillors still refuse to admit that they got it wrong.”

But new Labour leader Coun Julie Dore said: “I find this quite astonishing. The bus gate was put in in 2007 and the Lib Dems have been in charge of the council since 2008.

“They could have removed the bus gate at any time they wanted over the past three years. Why they have waited until now remains a mystery.

“The bus gate was put in to speed up bus journeys on that route. However, I absolutely accept that this scheme has not been popular with motorists and I agree wholeheartedly that where the council has got things wrong it should look again at finding better solutions.”

The report to be examined by councillors says the current system is “too complex”, that a “reduction from two lanes to one has not worked” and that the junction has become “a key reputational risk for the council”.

Experts propose to re-introduce a second lane and remove the bus gate. If it is approved by the committee on Thursday, the removal of the bus gate and associated lanes should take place in the next financial year.

However, if Labour win control of the council at local elections in May, the report could be ignored and the measures may remain in place.