Cash to ease city traffic problem

Leicester has been awarded more than a third of a million pounds to spend on work to ease traffic congestion.

The city council has been given £277,866 for the current financial year and will receive £83,360 the following year by the Department for Transport.

The money is part of the government's congestion performance fund and Leicester is one of 10 cities in the country to receive cash.

The council said the money would be spent improving public transport.

'Major' plans

Leicester City Council's transport strategy team leader, Garry Scott, said: "This extra money is a welcome boost and will be used to begin to transform the city's public transport.

"The money will help us bring forward the park-and-ride site at Enderby and will help fund the park-and-ride bus service during its first years.

"It will also be spent on improving Humberstone Road to make it better for buses, as well as updating public transport maps for the city centre.

"We are planning some major improvements to bus travel in the city centre over the next few years which will help form the backbone of the city's transport system and help the city's social, economic and environmental development for many years to come."