HIGHWAYS chiefs and councillors have come under fire this week from a member of the public over a “lack of commitment” to infrastructure in Copeland.

Speaking at a meeting of the county’s Local Committee yesterday, John Crewdson raised serious concerns over the collapse of several major transport projects throughout the borough.

But meeting chairman Keith Hitchen defended the committee’s record, setting out some of the works underway on the road and rail network despite shrinking budgets.

Mr Crewdson also wanted to know what had happened to the Powbeck spine road identified as part of the Powbeck Masterplan scheme and the Duddon Bridge scheme previously mooted for the south of the borough.

He said: “The biggest problem is a total lack of commitment by the county council. There will always be financial pressures, but money can be found if the commitment is there, but the commitment isn’t there.”

He claimed plans for an Asda in Whitehaven had fallen through because the county council has “insisted” the supermarket giant funded road improvements including a roundabout at the top of Coach Road.

He said: “The cost of the improvements was about £1.8m. Nobody is going to invest in this area if they are expected to fund road improvements which should have been done by the council 40 years ago.

“Areas that would benefit most from a new Pow Beck link road are officially designated as the most deprived wards in Cumbria – that’s one side of Mirehouse and the Sandwith ward. Unless we get some investment, they are going to remain deprived areas.”

Responding to Mr Crewdson’s claims, Coun Graham Roberts said he too was “very disappointed” and called for a more “joined up approach.”

He added: “The council should work together and, if we had a cohesive way forward, we might have seen some of these projects come to fruition. I think it’s time now that the officers got their heads around it and we worked alongside each other.”

The Local Committee is responsible for several highways’ budgets, including improvements to minor road networks such as carriageway resurfacing, drainage, footways and traffic-management.

The meeting heard that the Copeland Local Committee had supported spend in the region of £3.5 m to £4m per year over the last three years which included work to Coach Road – an area Mr Crewdson had highlighted as in need of investment.

Coun Hitchen said panel members worked with officers and regularly lobbied the Department for Transport for funding to be used locally on important projects.

Recently, the county council has helped to secure £844,000 to support road improvements for Copeland and helped to secure funding for the £1m carriageway reconstruction of Homewood Road near the hospital.

The county council is also aiming to deliver a further £2.4m worth of improvements to North Shore Road in Whitehaven, which Mr Hitchen described as a “much-needed infrastructure improvement to support development in the Whitheaven area.”

The county council has also been working very closely with the Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership to develop evidence of the need for more highways investment of the highways England-maintained strategic road network.

This includes building evidence that supports the case for the Whitehaven relief road and the upgrading the Cumbria coastal railway line.