A number of Enderby Parish Councillors today (15th February) met with representatives of Leicestershire County Council and Blaby District Council to discuss traffic issues in the Enderby area.

It was a constructive meeting with the Parish Councillors able to put specific concerns directly to the planners and also to get updated on the progress (or otherwise) of historic issues as well as more recent developments.

County Council Highways Officer James Whailing, accompanied by County Engineer Andy Hopkins, told the meeting that the recent informal consultation regarding a residents’ parking scheme had not indicated much enthusiasm from residents. This option is now unlikely in the foreseeable future.

With regard to several suggestions/plans for a one-way system in the village centre, the search was still on for a viable plan. A recent modelling exercise revealed a resulting gridlock on Co-operation Street and Bantlam Lane. Work on this is still ongoing.

The implementation of a one-way traffic flow on a portion of Townsend Road (a Parish Council plan that received approval some time ago) is likely to go ahead in the near future.

Several pinch-points and areas posing vehicular-hazards were examined and the Highways officers undertook to revue, and where necessary, install appropriate signage or deploy other measures to mitigate traffic problems.

The fundamental problem (not unique to Enderby) is that a late nineteenth-century infrastructure was not designed to accommodate twenty-first century multi-vehicle ownership or types of heavy commercial vehicles.

It is a conundrum, the answer to which is boggling the brains of the expert planners!