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| Delays to road projects condemned |
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| Written by Vascoingles | |
| Tuesday, 14 October 2008 | |
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Delays to work on two major roads in the East Midlands have been blamed on poor planning and bureaucracy. The Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE) has claimed the A46 and A453 have suffered "paralysis by analysis" as officials demand more studies. It said the A46 in Nottinghamshire had planning approval but no funding while the A453 from Leicestershire to Nottingham has money but no permission. The Department for Transport said both roads are a priority for the region. Making the heavily congested A453 a dual carriageway has been discussed since the early 1980s but firm plans only put forward in 2004. The Department of Transport is currently looking at the finer details of the plans to widen the A453. Funding 'poor' Work is due to begin in 2010 but a recent independent review of costs said the price tag could have risen far beyond the original £90m. John Parry from the Institution of Civil Engineers said Nottinghamshire is facing some serious transport challenges. "Lack of funding in comparison to other regions, investment in transport in the East Midlands has been very poor since the mid 90s. "Then we have paralysis by analysis, in other words we have the A453 which went to a public inquiry in about 1998 then there was another study in 2003 which got the funding but we are still waiting to move forward and make a start." Regional priorities The region gets about £80m a year for transport and the ICE report said it should be given more money to deal with clearer priorities over a longer period. A Department for Transport spokesman said: "We have asked the region for its road priorities and the A453 is one of those. "While building a road is a long-term project we are confident the A453 will go ahead in the near future. "We will be updating the regional priorities in the new year and that will provide some guidance as to when work on the A46 can begin." Source BBC News |
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