Alnwick Mayor sends letter to local MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan voicing frustration at delays to the dualling of the A1

Cllr Geoff Watson sent the letter following a discussion at a recent meeting of Alnwick Town Council.

A final decision of plans to dual 13 miles of single carriageway between Morpeth and Ellingham is currently on hold until September.

And there are growing fears that the scheme – already delayed twice – could be shelved due to financial pressures, with more than a dozen parish councils also writing to the MP for the Berwick-upon-Tweed constituency earlier this year to raise their concerns.

Cllr Watson wrote: ‘I am writing on behalf of Alnwick Town Council to express the council’s frustration at your failure to deliver on the pledge you made in 2007 during the A1 campaign and during your 2015 and 2017 election campaigns to ensure the dualling of the A1 in Northumberland.

‘On 1st December 2014, it was announced to Parliament by the Department for Transport that construction was due to begin in 2019. You sought election in 2015 using, amongst other things, this Road Investment Strategy announcement as proof that you were going to deliver the dualling of this major route through Northumberland. Highways England subsequently stated that the dualling was re-scheduled for 2021, with full opening in 2023.

‘You continued to induce voters in 2017 by promising that the A1 dualling was a top priority. We are now in June 2023, nine years since you first used the A1 dualling to help persuade voters of this constituency to elect you and despite the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto that promised to reduce the economic imbalances between the North and South, we are still waiting for the promised upgrade of the A1 in Northumberland.

‘As the dualling of the A1 will continue to be a major issue at the next election, perhaps you can advise us what steps you intend to take to fulfil the assurances you gave at the previous two elections.’

He added “After the discussion during the council meeting, we felt it was right to make Ms Trevelyan aware of the strength of feeling that had been expressed. I am disappointed that I am still awaiting a response.”

It was December 2014 when then Prime Minister David Cameron pledged £290million to complete the dualling of the road between Morpeth and Ellingham.

Hopes that the project would finally get the thumbs up were raised under Liz Truss’s brief tenure as Prime Minister when Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s now infamous mini budget contained a list of infrastructure projects across the country the government wanted to get started on by the end of this year, including the dualling of the A1.

However, with Ms Truss’s resignation and a new set of ministers, the plans remain in limbo once again.

If approved, the scheme would involve dualling eight miles of the A1 to a dual carriageway between Morpeth and Felton, as well as a further five miles between Alnwick and Ellingham.