Contractors remove island that blocked bus route

Work has started to remove a newly installed traffic island after it left a road in a village in Leicestershire too narrow for buses to access.

Arriva Midlands said it had withdrawn its services from the centre of Queniborough as drivers were unable to travel along Rearsby Road without mounting the kerb.

Contractors working for developer David Wilson Homes returned on Monday to start taking out the pedestrian refuge, which they recently built as part of work to increase the capacity of a nearby crossroads.

The developer said it hoped Arriva's 5 and 5A bus services would be restored by Thursday.

David Wilson Homes said it funded both the initial works at the junction and the removal of the island.

Leicestershire County Council, the highways authority, said the design of the junction had "not proved correct".

A spokesperson for the developer said: "Following a meeting with the highways design engineers on 7 October, we agreed works to start to remove the refuge island and the crossing points on each side.

"These works will be complete by Wednesday and the bus service should be able to resume as normal on Thursday."

The county council said it would continue to run a free taxi service from Rearsby Road to take people to the nearest bus stop 500m (1,640ft) away in Melton Road until the services returned.

James Poland, county councillor for the village, said he was pleased the island was being removed.

"We should never have ended up in this position. I warned the county council this would happen," he added.

"I want assurances from them they will learn from this and that it won't happen again anywhere.

"It has added to the disruption caused to people who rely on the buses."

A spokesperson for Arriva Midlands said: "After the work is completed, we'll send a team to assess the junction.

"If the assessment confirms buses can turn safely, we expect to restore services the following day.

"We'll update our customers as soon as we can."

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