Link route will be full-scale M-way

THE Nottingham to Birmingham link road will be a full-scale motorway, designated as the M.42.

This was confirmed on Wednesday by a spokesman for the Derbyshire County Council sub-unit of the Midlands Road Construction Unit.

“Motorway status has applied for some time. The principles of a motorway linking the M.5 near Birmingham to the M.1 near Nottingham have been accepted,” he stated.

He added that details of the route—known also as a strategy route—had not yet been finalised. It is these details which are worrying the parishes of Risley and Stanton-by-dale and Draycott at present. Now another authority is pressing for details of the line further south.

LINE PRESERVED

When Castle Donington Rural Council’s Housing Committee met on Tuesday, they learned from Leicestershire County Council that their suggestion for a road from the Windmill Fields housing estate at Castle Donington to the former airport road, the B.5401, was not possible.

This was because the line of the Castle Donington by-pass had to be preserved at the request of the Ministry of Transport. But stated the Road Construction Sub-Unit spokesman: “The position is that there has been a Castle Donington by-pass wanted for many years. The locals have been pressing for it.

“The by-pass would have been a local by-pass on the A.453, but the proposed M.42 would take most of the traffic off the A.453 which would probably mean that a Castle Donington by-pass would not be necessary.”

The Committee decided to seek more details about the M.42.

There IS a MAP!

A map showing the Birmingham to Nottingham link road was produced at Wednesday’s meeting of Risley Parish Council by one of the members.

It was brought by Coun. E. O. Leverton who said that for obvious reasons he could not say from where the map had come or how he had got hold of it.

It was obvious, however, that the map was an official one and it showed a motorway type road coming from the direction of Birmingham passing through Risley at a point just north of the rectory and continuing on between Stanton-by-Dale and Risley, through Barbados and striking the M.1 motorway at what is now the Erewash Valley Golf Club.