RENEWED calls have been made to upgrade the main road link between England and Edinburgh after a surge in fatalities on single carriageway sections in Northumberland.
The dualling of the section of the A1 immediately south of the Scottish Border in Northumberland was cancelled after the Westminster budget in October 2024.
Campaigners have been fighting for decades for improvements to the A1 in Northumberland, but have been let down by a series of “false promises” from successive UK Governments.
They are now “cautiously optimistic” after Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Westminster would look at alternative ways of funding a £500m project to dual a 13-mile stretch after it was abandoned because it was “unaffordable”.
On a visit to Newcastle last week during his “listening tour” of England and Wales, Burnham admitted the level of transport infrastructure in the region was “not fair” compared with other parts of the country.
He said officials would look into whether a funding package could be put together.
His comments have been greeted with “cautious optimism” by Scottish Borders and Northumberland councils.
Scottish Borders Council leader Euan Jardine said that for people and businesses in the Scottish Borders and Northumberland, the A1 was “far more than a line on a map”.
“It is a vital route to jobs, customers, services and markets across Scotland and England,” he said.
“Dualling it would deliver safer and more reliable journeys, support stronger supply chains and help unlock greater prosperity on both sides of the border.
“We are ready to support an imaginative and determined approach to moving this long-overdue investment forward.”
SNP Scottish Borders Councillor Aileen Orr said action was needed if lives were to be saved.
“The A1 is the main artery linking London with Edinburgh. It’s an ancient and scenic route but it carries local and national traffic along with tourists, including HGVs and combine harvesters at this moment,” she said.
“The point north of Alnwick and south of Dunbar are now under pressure as the death toll rises just for this year.
“The only solution is to dual but as it straddles both countries and very rural cash strapped councils, both Governments need to talk and act if lives are to be saved.”
An SNP spokesperson added: “Maybe if Andy Burnham fixes the A1 he will finally be able to find his way to Scotland having so far not made it north of the Tweed on his ‘listening tour’.”
After Burnham’s visit, Northumberland Mayor Kim McGuinness said there had been “encouraging noises” from Burnham’s administration about the A1, following intense cross-party lobbying from local leaders.
“I have told everybody who will listen that it needs to be dualled – and dualled with urgency,” she said.
“The previous government left us in a position where they had made a promise and not funded it. That is really difficult when people just want to see that road, which is becoming a national embarrassment and is becoming dangerous, dealt with.”
Conservative leader of the council Glen Sanderson said he was “optimistic”.
“There have been false dawns in the past but one thing I’m not going to do is play the blame game - I just want to keep focused on the job in hand,” he said.
However, LibDem leader Isabel Hunter, who represents Berwick West with Ord just south of the border, said she wanted action rather than more “false promises”.
“We can’t have any more lives lost,” she said. “These are the most positive words we have had for a while but I’m still cautious – he needs to find the money.”
The UK Government said National Highways is considering targeted safety improvements to the route as part of the third Road Investment Strategy, covering investment in the Strategic Road Network from 2026-2031.
In Scotland, a range of potential improvements to the A1 north of the border were considered during the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2).
“Full dualling was not included in the final 45 recommendations because the transport appraisal concluded that, in line with the sustainable travel and investment hierarchies, the priorities for investment in Scotland’s trunk road network lie elsewhere,” said a Transport Scotland spokesperson.
“These are on improving road safety, reliability and resilience and adapting the network to deal with challenge of climate change, rather than any large scale interventions on the A1 between Edinburgh and the Border.”
