29 February 2008

New £3.58m Barncoose Link Road officially opens

A new £3.58 million link road that will ease a notorious traffic bottleneck in Redruth and open up land for job creation has officially opened today (February 29).

Called Barncoose Avenue, it is the first part of Cornwall County Council's proposed £48 million east-west link road from Redruth to Camborne, and will allow for further development of the east end of Barncoose Industrial Estate, with the potential to accommodate around 950 new jobs.

The new road, which includes a light controlled junction and roundabout, links the A3047 with Wilson Way and will divert heavy lorries serving the Barncoose Industrial Estate from the surrounding area. It has also created a new access to Camborne
Redruth Community Hospital.

Children from nearby Treloweth Primary School and Pool School joined members of the project team and invited guests to celebrate the official opening.

The first vehicles to use the road were a steam-powered Burrell showman's traction engine (built in 1900) and owned by Robbie Richards of North Country, and a state-of-the-art two seater sports car built by Redruth-based Jetstream Sportscars, which has recently set up on the Treleigh Industrial Estate.

The construction project was led by Kerrier District Council in partnership with Cornwall County Council and CPR Regeneration, the urban regeneration company for Camborne, Pool and Redruth.

The road was built by the County Council's contractors Cormac.

It was funded by Cornwall County Council through its local transport plan, the Objective One Programme for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and the South West of England Regional Development Agency (RDA).

Carolyn Rule, Kerrier District Council's portfolio holder for economic development and community regeneration, said: "This is a great day for Camborne, Pool and Redruth and heralds the start of what I hope will be significant future investment in improving transport links in the area. This new road will ease a significant bottleneck and help attract new businesses to Barncoose Industrial Estate. I'm also delighted that we have been able to involve so many young people in today's opening as this is all about investing in their future."

Matt McTaggart, Cornwall county councillor, said: "The Barncoose Link road forms part of the council's transport strategy for the Camborne, Pool, Redruth area which is part of a wider programme of improvements aimed at reducing congestion, improving facilities for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users, as well as providing the infrastructure required to allow the regeneration of this area." 

Carleen Kelemen, director of the Objective One Partnership, said: "Improving transport infrastructure where it is a barrier to economic development is an important part of transforming the economy of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, which is why Objective One invested in this project.  In this case it is particularly heartening to see the private sector leading the subsequent development of workspace."

Stephen Bohane, head of business development at the South West RDA, said: "Our role is to invest to unlock Cornwall's business potential and this new road is an excellent example of that.  

Barncoose Avenue will transform access to the industrial estate, which is great new for local businesses, and it will make the estate far more attractive to inward investors."

Nigel Tipple, chief executive of CPR Regeneration, said: "Barncoose Avenue has already been a catalyst for new investment including Midas Developments' £4 million Carn Brea Business Park, and the creation of the £3.6 million NHS food production unit at the end of Wilson Way, both of which have been backed by Objective One.

The new road opens up land for more employment uses and there's already a lot of interest from potential developers and occupiers."

Barncoose Avenue has taken 10 months to construct and involved the removal of almost 50,000 tonnes of earth for re-use in nearby schemes and the diversion of major water and electricity services.

The scheme includes extensive soft landscaping works and features a tree-lined gateway at the junction with the A3047.

A particular challenge was maintaining vehicle and pedestrian access to the nearby hospital throughout the build.

Following today's official opening the road was immediately opened to traffic.