Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have both pledged to finally push ahead with the delayed dualling of the A1 in Northumberland if they become Prime Minister.
As the two contenders to replace Boris Johnson faced off in a leadership hustings in the North East on Tuesday, each candidate promised to put the long-awaited widening of the key route back on track.
A decision on whether to proceed with the upgrade of a single-lane section of the A1 between Morpeth and Ellingham had been due in January this year, before being pushed back to June and then again by a further six months. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced in June that the verdict would now come on or before December 5 this year, ending hopes of work starting this summer on the 13-mile scheme.
Speaking to Conservative Party members at the hustings in Darlington last night, Ms Truss vowed that as Prime Minister she would have the A1 dualled “from top to bottom”. And as Mr Sunak faced questions from the audience at the Darlington Hippodrome later in the night, the former Chancellor was asked what he would do to improve the North East’s road network.
The Richmond MP replied: “I know it is something really important, it is something we put in our manifesto and something as Chancellor that I, in theory, signed off on the funding for. But I know recently there has been some issue and the Transport Secretary is having another look at those plans.
“I am not sure what the issue is, but as Prime Minister I can certainly commit to you that I will go and figure out quickly what the situation is because I would like to see the A1 dualled. I travel on it a lot, I travel on the A19. Not only do we need to do that, we need to figure out the Tees Crossing as well.
“Those are the type of investments that will make a real difference to connectivity in the North and you have my absolute assurance that, as a matter of urgency, I will go and find out what that thing has been slowed down and get it back on track.”
The postponement of the final decision on the A1 dualling came about following the publication of Sir Peter Hendy’s Union Connectivity Review, which aired reservations about the scheme and called for a new “multimodal study” of road and other transport links between the North East and Scotland which “could result in much better outcomes than considering specific stretches of individual modes in isolation”.
Last month, North East council leaders were told that the region’s transport officials were still pressing the benefits of the scheme to the Department for Transport (DfT) and National Highways.
National Highways said in June: “The Secretary of State has asked for more time to consider our proposals for upgrading the A1 between Morpeth and Ellingham in Northumberland. We remain confident that our proposals will provide much needed additional capacity, with better connectivity for people and business, and safer journeys for everyone, and we remain committed to delivering these improvements upon receiving a positive decision on the DCO.”
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