£5m boost for new A1 junction

Highways England has announced a funding boost of £5 million for a new junction on the A1 in Lincolnshire.

The Government owned company’s Growth and Housing Fund is contributing to the new £23m junction on the A1 south of Grantham, enabling plans for the 193-hectare Spitalgate Heath Garden Villages urban extension to move forward.

The new junction, part-funded by developer and local authority funds, will unlock more than 1,000 new full-time jobs on the sites it will directly serve.

A further 4,000 jobs and up to 3,700 homes will also be created in a new urban extension, which will include a new local centre, schools, community facilities, conserved woodland and a network of innovative “blue green corridors” to assist with flood alleviation.

The urban extension programme will be delivered by the local authority with support from the Homes and Communities Agency, Network Rail, Greater Lincolnshire LEP and £28.5m developer contributions. The Growth and Housing Fund is a national Highways England initiative to support improvements to the strategic road network that will help create thousands of jobs and homes.

Ian Parsons, who is leading on the initiative at Highways England, said: “This funding is a boost for growth that will help kick-start a major regeneration scheme as well as alleviate congestion, meaning better journeys for motorists.

“New homes and workspaces bring jobs and prosperity to communities. Our job is to ensure the road system supports that prosperity by funding additional road capacity to serve significant new developments.

“We will continue to use our Growth and Housing Fund and work with a range of local stakeholders to unlock further development sites around the country.”