Plans for a major road improvement scheme designed to tackle congestion around Coalville could be abandoned after Leicestershire County Council warned it faces a £13 million funding shortfall.
The £84.6 million A511 Growth Corridor project has been in development since 2019, with construction originally expected to begin in early 2027.
However, despite more than £41 million in government funding being committed to the scheme, the council says it may be unable to bridge the remaining funding gap. The authority’s cabinet is due to consider the project’s future at a meeting in December, with options including pausing or cancelling the scheme, or finding a way to proceed.
The proposed improvements are intended to increase capacity along the A511 between the A42 at Ashby and the A50 at Field Head, helping to address existing congestion and accommodate planned housing and employment growth.
Under the proposals, eight junctions along the route would be remodelled, while a section of the A511 through Coalville, between Thornborough Road and Whitwick Road, would be upgraded to dual carriageway. A new link road would also be constructed at Bardon.
The council says the improvements would reduce congestion and pollution, improve journey times and support future economic development, including a proposed 3,500-home development and a major industrial park to the south-east of Coalville.
The potential loss of the scheme has prompted warnings from local politicians, with concerns that further housing and industrial development will place additional pressure on an already congested road network.
Amanda Hack, Labour MP for North West Leicestershire, described the funding shortfall as disappointing, pointing out that the Government had committed around £41m towards the project.
She also criticised the council’s decision to spend nearly £37 million advance debt repayments this year, arguing that some of this money could potentially have been retained to help meet unforeseen costs and budget pressures.
Craig Smith, Conservative councillor for Coalville North, said abandoning the scheme could not be considered, warning that existing traffic problems would worsen as development in the area continued.
He said: “It would be catastrophic not to go ahead with this.
“The road is already carnage and we are going to get more housing and more industrial development.
“Without this scheme Coalville will come to a standstill.”
The council’s cabinet member for transport, Andrew Hamilton-Gray, said Smith had his personal support, although he stressed that the final decision on the project’s future would not rest with him alone.
The council has already spent around £15 million on the project, including land acquisition and preliminary work.
The original programme anticipated the main construction phase beginning in March, with works expected to last approximately two years.
Funding currently comprises £41.7 million from the Government and £29.9 million in developer contributions. However, the authority faces an estimated £13 million gap which it may struggle to fill.
The financial pressure comes as Leicestershire County Council faces an £80 million deficit across its capital project programme over the next four years.
A decision in December will determine whether the A511 Growth Corridor remains a priority investment or whether the long-planned improvements face an uncertain future.
(Picture: Mapillary)
