Closing Aston Link Road and turning it into a cycleway is one of two options being considered by Staffordshire County Council as it develops proposals for the route on the southern edge of Stone.
The alternative being looked at is making Aston Link Road one way.
The county council has allocated £35,000 for design work on the scheme as part of its 2026/27 highways and transport capital programme, which was approved by Cabinet earlier in the year.
Aston Link Road connects Lichfield Road with the A51 at Aston by Stone and provides one of two accesses onto the A51 in the area.
In its latest capital programme, the county council describes the road as narrow and says it is used as a short cut.
It says the design work will consider either closing the road and turning it into a cycleway, or making the route one way. The stated aim is to improve the safety of turning movements around Aston Link Road, Lichfield Road and the A51 by reducing the number of access points.
The council also says there are no properties on the stretch that would be immediately affected and that a cycleway could provide a route into the southern end of Stone, linking with existing walking and cycling routes.
Concerns about the junction were identified in 2024
The proposals follow earlier feasibility work commissioned through the county council’s 2024/25 highways programme.
At that stage, £16,000 was allocated to a study looking at the purpose of Aston Link Road as a connection between the A51 and Lichfield Road.
The council identified a number of issues for the study to consider, including increased use of the road as a short cut, limited visibility, vehicles queuing on the A51, the width of Aston Link Road and its proximity to the Lichfield Road junction.
The possibility of making the road one way was already part of that work, along with consideration of walking and cycling movements.
The move from a £16,000 feasibility study in 2024 to £35,000 of design work in the current programme shows that the council is continuing to develop options for the route.
Interestingly, the latest programme also says the Aston Link Road work “links to the wider Stone gyratory scheme”. A Little Bit of Stone has asked Staffordshire County Council separately for more information about work carried out on its review of the town centre gyratory.
Staffordshire County Council’s current delivery programme lists the Aston Link Road design work for spring 2027.
