Crawley’s location and our transport links, both within our town and to travel outwards, are one of the many good things about living here. We also have the nation’s second largest airport within our Borough while not being too far from the first. Our location and transport links are a key factor in our local economic success. Conversely, congestion hampers our local economy as well taking up our time and being bad for the environment.
I have driven around the Cheals Roundabout a few times since the improvements finished and every time it has been a much better experience than it used to be. Another of our busiest and important roundabouts is the Hazelwick Roundabout in Three Bridges. This is planned to be signalised to make it safer and to better control traffic and queuing. I have requested an update as to when this will be happening.
We also have improvements planned to the forecourts for both Three Bridges and Crawley Station. These will improve connectivity to our local bus network and will reduce traffic congestion.
Our Conservative Government is embarking on the biggest rail modernisation programme since Victorian times to deliver better, quicker journeys for passengers. Nationally, £48 billion will be spent to deliver major projects, rolling out new trains and upgrading and electrifying hundreds of miles of track.
£29 billion will be spent on improving roads across England, which will be biggest ever single cash injection. £25.3 billion of this will be on national strategic roads and £3.5 billion will be on local roads.
Bus services are to be transformed to help people move better not just between towns and cities, but within them. A £220 million National Bus Strategy is to be launched, that will create new low-fare, high frequency ‘superbus’ networks and an additional £30 million will be invested to improve existing routes and restore lost services. This could potentially give us better and more frequent bus services to and from our neighbouring towns and villages. Many people currently drive into Crawley to work or visit and better bus services could help reduce our traffic congestion.
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
23rd October 2019