'Spiteful' move set to end hopes that A1 will be dualled

THE Government is moving to officially revoke the approval that would have allowed for the dualling of the A1 in Northumberland.

- DANIEL HOLLAND Local Democracy Correspondent

Labour announced last October that it was scrapping a long-debated upgrade to 13 miles of single carriageway on the busy route, having deemed it “unfunded and unaffordable”, sparking outrage in the North East after years of campaigning to get the project off the ground.

Transport secretary Heidi Alexander subsequently said that the dualling between Morpeth and Ellingham was “poor value of money”, with its estimated cost having spiraled from £290m in 2014 to more than half a billion pounds. The decision led to Labour being accused of having “turned its back on the North East”, with £67m having already been spent to prepare the scheme.

Ms Alexander has now served notice that she will also quash the

My hope, no matter how forlorn, is that somehow at least the work done and progress made will not be entirely reversed

Coun Richard Wearmouth