The plan to scrap one of Nottinghamshire’s largest infrastructure projects, as suggested in Highways News yesterday, has become ‘yet another betrayal’ for the East Midlands region, local politicians say.
Improvements to Newark’s heavily congested A46 bypass have been in the running for years, but, in a matter of days, the entire project now looks unlikely, reports West Bridgford Wire.
In 2022, National Highways announced it had selected Skanska to design and build the new bypass. By October 2025, the Government had approved the Development Consent Order (DCO) for the scheme, meaning planning permission had been secured for the contractor to move forward with the construction works.
Then, at the end of April, officials said they had hoped work on the long-awaited improvements to the regularly congested A46 bypass in Newark could begin within the next five years, with completion by 2031 at the latest.
However, over a period of just two days, National Highways cancelled its £297 million contract with Skanska, and the reason, while not immediately obvious, has now been made clear.
On 30 June outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a £15 billion boost to defence spending amid continued conflicts spanning the globe, but he said this would come at the expense of some infrastructure projects deemed “not immediately vital”.
The Newark bypass scheme, in the East Midlands, is one of those projects.
“I think it’s a betrayal to the residents we all represent, especially here in Nottinghamshire,” said Cllr Mick Barton, Reform leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, which is in charge of highways.
“We needed this investment and regeneration in the highways in these areas.
East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward (Lab) says she was informed the Government’s proposals included removing investment from the Newark bypass scheme.
She has called the decision “completely unacceptable” and said she was asking the Government to pull investment from elsewhere.
The East Midlands had already been ranked bottom of all regions for transport investment at the time. Conservative county councillor for Newark East, Sam Smith, said it was yet another betrayal and branded the decision “outrageous and unfair”.
He said businesses in the area have been unable to expand and invest due to limits on the local road network, which is a notorious bottleneck.
“Hopefully [Andy] Burnham U-turns and commits to funding outside London,” he added. “Cutting infrastructure spending cuts job opportunities, cuts growth, cuts investment into communities and increases congestion. It is bonkers to scrap spending on infrastructure.
“They should be reducing the welfare budget instead.”
National Highways, with Skanska, was proposing to improve congestion by widening 6.5 km of what is currently a single carriageway that carries an average of 15,000 vehicles every day.
Under the plans, it would have become a dual carriageway, providing two lanes in each direction between the Farndon and Winthorpe roundabouts near Newark-on-Trent.
A new flyover would have been built at the Cattle Market roundabout for the A46 to pass over the junction, with a new bridge constructed over the A1.
(Picture: Mapillary)
