The plans to widen the A19 between Wolviston and Norton and reduce the noise from the road surface are again back in the melting pot according to a Transport Minister’s letter to Stockton North Labour MP Alex Cunningham.
The Road Investment Strategy is a long-term programme to improve the quality of the roads, and one of the actions within the strategy is to widen the A19 Norton to Wynyard Billingham bypass to three lanes between the A139 and the A689, and replace the existing concrete surfacing with a low-noise surface.
Concerned that the government’s review of transport infrastructure plans would put the A19 project at risk, Alex wrote to Transport Minister John Hayes seeking a guarantee that the long delayed and much promised scheme would go ahead.
Today the Minister replied but failed to provide the guarantee he was seeking. In the letter, the Minister said “there are no immediate plans to cancel the A19 Norton to Wynyard scheme”.
After receiving the response from the Minister, Alex said:
“The very fact the Minister won’t guarantee the scheme will go ahead is extremely worrying. This project was scheduled to be finished several years ago but cancelled by the Tory government and then reinstated and promised by 2020. Now the Minister says “no immediate plans to cancel” which means the project is still very much in the melting pot.
“The people of Billingham will be shattered by this new doubt – as will the tens of thousands of commuters who use that road every day. I will continue to press the government to guarantee the scheme but for now we are only wait and hope.”
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For more information please contact Alex Cunningham on 01642 345291.
