Roadwork disruption unavoidable - council leader

A council leader has apologised to drivers about to be caught up in months of roadworks at a busy city centre roundabout.

Work at the Queensgate roundabout in Peterborough will begin on Monday. It will be reduced to one lane and the disruption is expected to last until May.

The roadworks are linked to the £65m Station Quarter project, which aims to improve the gateway between the railway station and the city centre.

Labour city council leader Shabina Qayyum said: "There will be disruption for people... we're sorry about that; we cannot avoid that."

The lane closure will enable the subway underneath the roundabout to be filled in with more than a thousand tonnes of concrete, and accommodate other landscaping works to regenerate the area.

Qayyum told a full council meeting on Wednesday the council would be monitoring the project as it progresses to see if traffic congestion can be alleviated at times, as reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"We will look at how we can flex and adapt during the works to keep disruption to a minimum," she said.

While the councillor acknowledged the short-term headaches the work would create, she encouraged residents to consider the bigger picture.

"This project will transform our city centre and create a more welcoming and safer route from the train station," she said.

"Please support this game-changing, once-in-a-generation, regeneration project for our city."

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