MP outlines major transport plan for region

The MP for Boston and Skegness has outlined plans to improve transport links and ease congestion in the area.

Reform UK's Richard Tice told a news conference at Boston Rugby Club he wanted to see a new relief road for Boston, turn the A16 to Peterborough into a dual carriageway and deliver various local rail improvements.

"I recognise that people have been talking about a bypass for 20 years - but just because it hasn't been done before doesn't mean it can't be done," he said.

Tice said the region had previously had "a bit of a rum deal" in terms of infrastructure spending.

"If you don't have a vision you are not going to make progress - that's how we grow," he added.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the combined cost of the projects would be in the region of £500m.

In addition to the bypass and the A16 scheme, the plans include two new stations with park-and-ride facilities north and south of Boston, as well as a reconnection of the Spalding and Peterborough railway line.

"We're putting our case here to the mayor and to the county council. I'm saying these are opportunities for small pieces of funding to do the detailed analysis. You do it step by step - and if you get through the first step, then you justify getting to the next step," Tice said.

The idea of a Boston relief road has been a hot local topic for years and helped the Boston Bypass Independents take control of the borough council in 2007.

Independent leader of the borough council, Anne Dorrian, earlier praised the MP's ambition but questioned how deliverable the projects were.

"If he is successful in achieving what he set out here today then the prospects for the residents of Boston are limitless, so I wish him every success in his endeavour," she said.

"I don't want to rain on his parade but what he set out today is hugely ambitious and there has got to be a big question mark over whether it's all achievable and deliverable."

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