WORK has been carried out on the latest stage of improvements to pavements, drainage and pedestrian areas of Leicester’s Narborough Road.
The maintenance work has been carried out in stages over the last two years and has included making pavements more pedestrian-friendly by installing new bollards and cycle racks to prevent pavement parking, as well as replacing broken or loose slabs and tackling drainage problems.
The latest phase of works has now been completed, replacing sections of uneven pavements on the outbound side of Narborough Road between its junctions with Ruding Road and Roman Street, near Westcotes Library.
In total, more than £630,000 has been invested in sprucing up public areas of Narborough Road for local businesses and residents, including around £150,000 in this latest phase.
Previous stages of the work took place in 2020 and 2021, focusing on the area between Upperton Road and Braunstone Gate. The work is being funded through Leicester City Council's highway maintenance capital fund.
Leicester deputy city mayor and Westcotes ward councillor, Sarah Russell, said: “This rolling programme of repairs has hugely improved Narborough Road for local businesses and residents, by replacing broken or uneven paving, damaged street furniture and fixing drainage problems.
“The addition of bollards and bicycle racks also deters inconsiderate pavement parking, which is partly to blame for causing some of the damage we are now repairing.
“It has been a significant investment, which we hope will benefit local businesses by making this busy shopping area more pleasant, attractive and safer for everyone.”
Work is also ongoing at nearby Braunstone Gate as part of a larger £1.5m redevelopment scheme financed by the Government’s Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) to install safer walking and cycling infrastructure, creating wider pavement areas for visitors to the shops, cafes and bars in the area and reducing the amount of unnecessary traffic.
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