A report presented to Warwickshire County Council's (WCC) Rugby Area Committee today (Thursday) explains the project's impact on traffic movement in town, but also reveals that funding to progress the scheme had dried up.
It was hoped constructio
n of the scheme could start as early as next year, but according to WCC officers this is now unlikely.
A report made public this week read: "It should be noted at this stage that there is currently no funding identified beyond 2010/11 to progress the scheme further in terms of consultation on the detailed design or construction."
"Future funding availability in the current economic climate suggests the scheme would need to be financed from borrowing. As such there would be a revenue implication for the county council to meet the debt charges associated with such borrowing."
The report added that funding that could have come from housing, employment and retail growth in the town would not be significant, and due to the recession, unlikely to be available in the near future.
Adrian Hart, team leader of transport planning, said: "We were hoping to carry out detailed assessment for the scheme this year but now that's looking unlikely - especially given the Government's spending review.
"Unfortunately this is the case with a lot of publicly funded projects."
In light of the report's findings on traffic flow in the town centre, the committee had been advised to continue to support 'Option 1', which outlines the pedestrianisation of North Street and Church Street adjacent to the clock tower and the reorganisation of bus, taxi and traffic flow.
