Landmark £23M West Cheltenham transport improvement scheme completed

A landmark £23 million transport scheme in Cheltenham has been revealed.

This week GFirst LEP, Gloucestershire County Council, Atkins Ltd, Alun Griffiths Ltd, Knights Brown Construction Ltd and Cheltenham Borough Council came together to formally mark the completion of the Scheme.

In February 2017 the GFirst LEP successfully secured £23.6 million of Growth Deal funding from central Government to deliver the West Cheltenham Transport Improvement Scheme (WCTIS), the LEP’s largest investment project to date.

This significant investment was committed to accelerate the release of employment land to house the Cheltenham Cyber Business Park whilst also reducing congestion on the A40 corridor and supporting cycling and walking along the route.

The £23.6m Growth Fund investment will leverage in tens of millions of further investment from both the private and public sector to create Cyber Central UK, “the home of UK Cyber Technology” and the wider Golden Valley Development. The development is expected to eventually support over 11,000 jobs and will deliver 4000 new homes.

David Owen CEO of GFirst LEP, said: "This investment of £23.6million is the largest of all our project investments and has funded the necessary road infrastructure to deliver this ambitious scheme for the county. Cheltenham is internationally recognised as the 'cradle of cyber innovation for the UK'.  The cyber-tech sector even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic offered the county huge potential, but moving forward, the sector will be even more important. To see this project delivered on time and in budget shows the power of collaboration and the hard work of all our project partners.”

Tim Atkins, Managing Director Place and Growth at Cheltenham Borough Council said: “These critical infrastructure improvements are the first major step in the Golden Valley Development, enabling the delivery of the National Cyber Innovation Centre at the heart of its first phase. In particular, the work done to improve journeys for active transport users will be invaluable as part of the Golden Valley Garden Community we will build here in west Cheltenham. This project has come about through a fantastic collaboration between the councils, GFirst LEP and private developers which demonstrates how we can achieve outstanding results by working together.”

Councillor Mark Hawthorne, Leader of Gloucestershire County Council said: “Completion of this vital scheme by the county council is a real milestone for Gloucestershire. I’m grateful for the support of GFirst LEP and to our highways teams, partners Atkins, and our contractors, Knights Brown Construction and Alun Griffiths for their hard work in delivering this project which will be a massive boost for the economy, jobs the environment and cycling and walking.”