A city councillor has resigned from his party over a decision to plough on with the last link of the city’s Southern Bypass.

David Dundas has served as a Conservative councillor for 17 years but stepped down in order to gain the political freedom to protest over ongoing negotiations to sell a “strategic” piece of city council land to enable to bypass to proceed.

Councillor Dundas is unhappy with the current route of the bypass and wished to postpone negotiations with Persimmon Homes for the sale of the land between Birmingham Road and London Road until after the plan could be reviewed.

A city councillor has resigned from his party over a decision to plough on with the last link of the city’s Southern Bypass. David Dundas has served as a Conservative councillor for 17 years but stepped down in order to gain the political freedom to protest over ongoing negotiations to sell a “strategic” piece of city council land to enable to bypass to proceed.
David Dundas has served as a Conservative councillor for 17 years but stepped down to protest over ongoing negotiations to sell a “strategic” piece of city council land to be used for the Southern Bypass.

At a meeting of Lichfield City Council on Monday (October 23), he told fellow councillors: “This proposal to start negotiations to sell this piece of land is premature, and should not go ahead before a full review of the line of the end of the bypass is considered by all city councillors.

“We should first consider the views of our residents at our planning committee, who have responded to our advertisement of the intention to sell this land, and not just by the closed session of the majority group.

“As you may be aware, I have resigned my membership of the Conservative Group in order to be able to present my argument to do this.”

He has served 17 years as a Conservative councillor for St John’s, Boley Park, Central, Curborough and Chadsmead wards.

“I resign with a bit of a heavy heart but I think there are some people trying to steamroller this through and I don’t agree with it,” the now independent councillor told the Lichfield Mercury.

The stance means Lichfield City Council now has 24 Conservative members, one Lib Dem, one Labour, one Independent [Cllr Dundas] and one vacant seat for Stowe Ward.

At Monday’s meeting, only Conservative councillors were present and Cllr Dundas’ proposal was defeated.

He told those in attendance: “The planning application 12/00182/OUTMEI for 450 houses and community facilities includes the completion of the end of the bypass.

“When it was discussed by our planning committee in 2012 we were not advised that the council owned this piece of land at the end of the bypass; and at that time, although several councillors objected to the bypass ending close to the Shell garage, we had the impression that we had no choice.

“This route of the end of the bypass has been on the table for more that 30 years. Since it was first mooted, the whole area has changed substantially.

“Not only do we now have this new estate of 450 houses, but we also have the Cricket Lane special development area that includes a further 450 houses and a commercial zone.

“When these two developments are completed, the proposed end of the bypass will no longer be a bypass, as it will bring traffic into the centre of a residential area; a bypass should be a bypass.”

Housing developer Persimmon is planning to build 450 new homes and a school on land south of the final link of Lichfield's Southern bypass, sandwiched between London Road and the Cross City line. An access road from the new estate is planned to come out on to London Road where No.22 currently stands.
An access road from the new estate is planned to come out on to London Road where No.22 currently stands.

Residents group BADRA has made a “very sensible proposal” to re-route the bypass further south to join London Road close to the Swinfen roundabout on the A38, said Cllr Dundas.

He added: “As the 450 house development includes an estate road from the bypass through the centre of the estate to exit where 22 London Road is located, this road could be replaced by the bypass. The revised bypass would probably have to go under Knowle Lane with a bridge.

“Routing the bypass as BADRA has suggested will avoid adding an additional busy road into the congested intersection by the Shell garage, which is likely to greatly increase the danger to traffic, because it will be partly obscured by the hump of the canal bridge to traffic entering the city, as well as having the entrance and exits to the garage forecourt opposite it.

What the new Lichfield canal will look like, if plans go ahead. An artist’s impression of the tunnel under the railway line - Birmingham Road tunnel by Andrew Wood.
An artist’s impression of the tunnel under the railway line at Birmingham Road.

“This new bypass route would eliminate the need to demolish 22 London Road and avoid spoiling the visual aspect of this valuable entry point into the city, and it will also avoid the enhanced danger of having this junction close to the Cricket Lane / Knowle Lane crossroad.

“If this estate road with an exit through 22 London Road is retained, it is very likely that it will become a rat run to avoid the congested intersection near the Shell garage.

“An end to the bypass close to the Swinfen roundabout is likely to be at the same location as the new entrance in to the commercial part of the Cricket Lane development.”