The director of Surrey Highways has apologised to residents for ‘inconvenience’ and disruption caused by a new cycle path.
A newsletter from Ashtead Independents claims the county director, Jason Russell, called on a councillor to say sorry on his behalf for ‘aggravation’ caused by the new route.
The A24 scheme, which links the Surrey village of Ashtead to neighbouring Leatherhead, was awarded almost £700,000 by the Department for Transport.
However the scheme has proved controversial with local residents, who have raised concerns about a lack of demand for the cycle path, increased congestion as a result of the installation of several pedestrian lights and the narrowing of junctions.
The Ashtead Independents newsletter reads: ‘Finally, in connection with the recent construction of the cycle path in Leatherhead Road, the Director of Surrey Highways admits that the project was not run as well as it should have been and has asked our county councillor, Chris Townsend, to apologise on his behalf to Ashtead residents for the inconvenience, aggravation, lack of communication and numerous delays that occurred.
‘He will strive to ensure that other such projects are handled in a much more professional way.’
A Surrey CC spokesman said: ‘This project involved seven different phases and all these phases were run at the same time due to the complexity of of the project and to ensure we met the July deadline. This is something we have learned lessons from and in future the project management will be better.’
