Multi-million road improvements could bring over 4,000 jobs and over 1,000 homes

Multi-million pound road upgrades that will help create more than 4,300 jobs and over 1,700 new homes have been accepted after they were announced on December 28.

The improvements, worth just over £67m, should mean that more opportunity will be available in Wigan, Marlow in Buckinghamshire, Newton in Nottinghamshire as well as Plymouth and Cumbria.

Highways England is to make a £16.6m contribution towards the whole scheme from its growth and housing fund. This is alongside private sector developer contributions and other public funding.

Jim O’Sullivan, Highways England’s chief executive, said: “Each of these improvements will ensure England’s strategic road network continues to make a valuable contribution to the prosperity of our country.

“We will continue to use our growth and housing fund, working with a range of local stakeholders to unlock further development sites around the country.”

The designated £100m fund was set up as part of the government’s £15bn investment in roads, to provide financial contributions towards the cost of road improvements needed for new developments that are to provide new jobs and essential homes.

Transport secretary, Chris Grayling, said: “Transport investment is crucial to a strong and resilient economy – that’s why we are making the biggest investment in roads in a generation, spending £23bn across the country to improve journeys for motorists.

“These upgrades from Highways England will benefit the regions, giving a boost to businesses and better access to the jobs and homes that people want.”

The schemes include:

A404/A4155 Westhorpe Interchange improvements, Buckinghamshire

The scheme aims to create the opportunity for up to 560 jobs at the Globe Business Park and enable over 22,000 sq m of vacant space that would be used by businesses.

In total, the project will receive funding of £1.75m which is being made up of £1.18m from the growth and housing fund, £500k private finding and an additional £63k provided by the Local Enterprise Partnership.

Work on the scheme is expected to commence late 2018 to spring 2019.

M58 Wigan Link Road (Greater Manchester)

This is to improve accessibility in the area, help to reduce congestion and create smoother journeys for drivers. The link road will create a new high profile gateway into Wigan town centre from the M58/M6 and connect a number of employment sites to the highways network, bringing the opportunity to create new jobs and contribute to economic growth.

The scheme will be funded by a combination of public and private sector contributions, including £5m from the growth and housing fund and £10.9m from Greater Manchester Growth Deal.

The new link road is currently planned to open to traffic by the end of 2020.

A590 Cross-a-moor (Cumbria)

This scheme aims to see an upgrade of the existing junction at Cross-a-Moor, Cumbria into a four arm roundabout which will provide a number of key local development sites with direct access to the A590 trunk road.

The £5.05m scheme has been allocated £3.05m from the growth and housing fund, £2.03m in third party match funding which will include £1.73m of private funding and a contribution from South Lakeland District Council.

The scheme will also unlock 106 local homes, and three further sites with the potential to deliver 895 new homes In the future.