The transport secretary has granted development consent for National Highways’ £1.3bn A12 Chelmsford to A120 Widening Scheme.
The scheme involves widening the A12 between Chelmsford and the A120 from two to three lanes in each direction ‘where necessary’ and amendments to junctions on the route.
The government-owned company's planning application was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate in August 2022 and accepted for examination in September 2022.
Following the examination, recommendations were made to transport secretary Mark Harper on 12 October 2023. His decision, in line with the recommendations, was made within the statutory three-month period.
The Planning Inspectorate’s chief executive, Paul Morrison, said: ’Local people, the local authority and other Interested Parties were able to participate in this six-month Examination.
‘The Examining Authority listened and gave full consideration to all local views and the evidence gathered during the Examination before making its recommendation to the secretary of state.'
National Highways described the decision as a significant step towards the ‘future delivery of this important road project’, which it said will help improve safety for drivers, reduce congestion, and make journey times more reliable.
The scheme, which is currently costed at £1.045bn - £1.268bn, was first announced in the 2015-20 Road Investment Strategy.
It also includes the creation of two bypasses, improving junctions 19 and 25, removing junctions 20a, 20b and 23, and moving junctions 21, 22 and 24 to make them all movement junctions.
National Highways announced its preferred option for the scheme in 2020 but amended the scheme the following year after a statutory consultation and then undertook a supplementary consultation.
The scheme’s webpage gives a start date of 2023-24 and an end date of 2027-28. However, in October National Highways said that if consent is granted, construction will begin ‘in 2024’, with the road expected to be open to traffic in 2027-28.
