Officials at the North East Combined Authority have said that the £1.8 billion provided to the mayor for transport improvements could not have been used to dual the A1 in Northumberland. It comes amid criticism from leading Tories on the county council who have argued the cash was promised for the long-awaited duelling under the previous Government.
The A1 is owned by National Highways, with decisions on improvements made by the Westminster Government. The new round of funding, which was confirmed last week, is expected to be used for the £900m extension of the Metro to Washington.
Plans to dual a 13-mile stretch of the A1 between Morpeth and Ellington were given the green light under Rishi Sunak’s Government following a string of lengthy and controversial delays. The timing of the decision was heavily criticised at the time, coming after the Tories had called a general election and with Labour well ahead in the polls.
Subsequently, the project – expected to cost more than £500 million – was scrapped as part of autumn budget. Officials deemed the scheme “poor value for money” while the previous Government was accused of making an “unfunded” commitment.
Cllr Richard Wearmouth, the deputy leader of Northumberland County Council, said: “When you look at all the money that was awarded to all the regional authorities, it is almost exactly the same as Rishi Sunak dealt out when he cancelled HS2.
“What the chancellor has signed off is almost exactly the same – it’s within a rounding error. We were told those projects were unfunded, but they have just reallocated it.
“Someone has said the priority wasn’t the A1. That is a decision that was made.
“They decided it wasn’t value for money. It was a high-level regional priority that Labour, either nationally or regionally, decided to scrap.
“Clearly, there is money to be spent elsewhere in the region.”
It is worth noting that the previous Government’s planned, labelled “network north”, initially included the reopening of the Leamside Line. However, this was pulled within 24 hours of the initial announcement, leading to a furious reaction in the North East.
The Government has reiterated that the Conservatives did not set out plans on how to fund Network North. A spokesman for the Department for Transport added: “We’re giving Mayors the long-term funding certainty they need to deliver transport that actually works for their regions to deliver jobs, access to opportunities and growth.
“This is game-changing funding – a 2.4 times real-terms increase in capital spending on local transport in city regions.”
And the North East Combined Authority (NECA) confirmed that the new cash could not be used to dual the A1. However it was confirmed that the Mayor and officials would continue to make the case for the scheme to the Government.
A spokesman for NECA said: “The A1 is part of the national road network owned by the Government’s National Highways agency which makes decisions with the Department for Transport on funding for these roads.
“We are actively talking to National Highways to make the case for much-needed improvements to both.”
Last week, Labour Mayor Kim McGuinness said there would be a “huge amount” of money for “local projects in Northumberland” included those supported by the county council. She added it would help build an integrated transport system across the North East.
Those comments came after the leader of Northumberland County Council, Cllr Glen Sanderson, accused the Government of ‘ignoring’ the county in the allocation of transport funding.
