The government has failed to say how it will speed up a series of critical North East transport upgrades that it pledged would be “accelerated as fast as possible” – including the revamp of the Tyne Bridge and dualling of the A1.
A number of major infrastructure improvements across the region were promised a boost under the ill-fated Growth Plan unveiled by the now-sacked Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng last month. But the Department for Transport (DfT) has been unable to give any details on what will actually be done to “accelerate” the projects.
Easington MP Grahame Morris has urged the government to produce more than “warm words”, while local councils are understood to be similarly in the dark over the plans. The £40m restoration of the Tyne Bridge and Central Motorway, the Northumberland Line railway reopening, upgrades to the northern transpennine A66, and the dualling of the A1 between Morpeth and Ellingham were all named within the mini-budget’s 114-strong list of transport infrastructure schemes to be sped up.
