The Department for Transport (DfT) has said it will not ask Norfolk County Council to return £33m funding towards its shelved £274m link road.
In January the highway authority withdrew its planning application for the Norwich Western Link scheme after advice from Natural England about its impact on bats, leaving the council at risk of having to repay the DfT funding.
On Monday, Cllr Graham Plant, cabinet member for highways, transport and infrastructure, told the council’s cabinet: ‘Officers have been discussing the future of our priority Norwich Western Link project with our key funding partner, the Department for Transport.
‘As a result of these discussions, DfT have confirmed that they will not ask for the £33m they have already committed to the project to be returned. Reaching agreement on this was one of our priorities for these discussions, and forms part of our aim to achieve a good outcome for Norfolk related to the Norwich Western Link.’
Regarding the position taken by Natural England, Cllr Plant said council leader Kay Mason Billig ‘has also received a supportive letter from the secretary of state for transport about the situation we find ourselves in and the future of the project’.
He said: ‘While the secretary of state has confirmed that DfT cannot intervene in any individual decisions made by statutory environmental bodies, she has acknowledged that the leader’s letter raised “important questions about how Natural England engages with scheme promoters”.
‘She has therefore told us that DfT officials will hold discussions with their counterparts in Defra “to ensure such engagement is carried out in a way that supports the Government’s missions”.’
The BBC reported that the DfT had confirmed the council would not need to repay the £33m, but expected to be provided with proposals for ‘alternative solutions to the Norwich Western Link to relieve congestion on local roads’.
Opponents of the Shrewsbury North West Relief Road (NWRR), currently priced at £215m but with a funding gap of £176m, seized upon the news as providing a ‘lifeline’ for Shropshire Council.
Last month, Shropshire said that if it decided not to progress the scheme, it expected to have to repay £39m to the Government.
Mike Streetly from Better Shrewsbury Transport said: ‘Shropshire Council’s finance officer said that from a purely financial point of view it would be better to build the NWRR rather than have to repay the £39m the council has spent to date on consultants as the government would only cover the sunk costs if they cancelled the project.
‘But now it appears there is an alternative plan: talk to the Department for Transport and arrange for the costs spent to date on this disastrous, ill-conceived road to be written off.’
