PLANS for a new 520-metre road linking Ermine Street and Brampton Road and cutting up to 50 per cent of peak-hour traffic on Huntingdon ring road got the green light on Monday (November 16). The �2.5-3million road plan will involve demolishing a number of

PLANS for a new 520-metre road linking Ermine Street and Brampton Road and cutting up to 50 per cent of peak-hour traffic on Huntingdon ring road got the green light on Monday (November 16).

The �2.5-3million road plan will involve demolishing a number of commercial properties and a pair of semi-detached homes at the Ermine Street junction.

Pulling down many of the commercial buildings also needed conservation area consent.

Huntingdonshire District Council's development management panel approved the scheme, which will be part-funded by central Government through the Housing Growth Fund.

The road, which could be in use by Christmas 2011, will be the responsibility of Cambridgeshire County Council, as highway authority.

The road is key to council plans to extend the town centre westwards towards the railway line, providing space for more shops, other businesses, homes and car parking.

It could be an added incentive for the owners of the Chequers Court retail area to bring forward plans to re-develop that. A design framework for this was the subject of a separate debate at the meeting and will now be considered by the council's cabinet.