Ministers out of excuses over A1 decision delay

Ministers have delayed a decision on a major National Highways scheme in the North East for a fourth time, taking the process beyond to nearly three years since a recommendation from the Planning Inspectorate.

The proposed A1 Northumberland – Morpeth to Ellingham Improvements scheme involves the widening of approximately 20.6km stretch of the A1 between Morpeth and Ellingham, with approximately 14.5km online widening and approximately 6.1km new offline highway.

The then transport secretary, Grant Shapps, received the Planning Inspectorate’s report on the scheme’s application for a development consent order in October 2021, with a deadline for a decision of 5 January 2022.

Under section the Planning Act 2008, the secretary of state must make his or her decision within three months of receipt of the examining authority’s report unless exercising the power to extend the deadline and make a statement to Parliament announcing a new deadline.

In December 2021, transport minister Andrew Stephenson, extended the deadline to June 2022, followed by a further postponement to December of that year.

On that occasion, Mr Stephenson told Parliament that the delay was ‘in light of the written statement made by the Secretary of State on 26 May 2022 regarding the Union Connectivity Review’.

In December 2022, transport minister Huw Merriman told Parliament that it had been necessary to extend the deadline until this month, adding that ‘the reason remains as that set out in the written ministerial statement of 6 June 2022’.

Extending the deadline for a fourth time until June 2024 – an extension of nine months – Mr Merriman stated: ‘In addition to the reason for the extension set out in the written ministerial statement on 6 December 2022, the extension will allow further time to consider any matters relevant to the application.’