THE county council’s highway’s chief says the completion of the Southern Link Road and investments in active travel will help ease congestion on Barbourne Road.

The issue of traffic on the busy city road was raised at Thursday’s Worcestershire County Council meeting by Cllr Matt Jenkins.

In reply, the cabinet member for highways Marc Bayliss said: “Worcestershire County Council has invested significantly in infrastructure to reduce congestion on city routes including completion of the A4440 Southern Link Road, the upgrading of traffic signal equipment to incorporate the latest technology and many active travel improvements.

“We remain committed to active travel, and encouraging our residents and visitors to walk and cycle.

"The national government’s target is for half of all urban journeys to be walked or cycled by 2030.

“To help to achieve this we are developing the LCWIP [local cycling and walking infrastructure plans] for our key towns and Worcester during 23-25 and recently the county council has supported the city council with its rollout of the Beryl Bike scheme to make travelling around the city by bike easier.”