Incomplete road scheme could already be outdated
BBCA £50m road improvement scheme in Worcestershire could be out of date before it is completed, a councillor has warned.
Reform UK councillor, Nik Price, says he fears an aging Local Plan, increased housing targets and a lack of land allocated for development could "swallow up" any benefits from the Bromsgrove Route Enhancement Programme (BREP).
Work on the A38 scheme began in January 2024 and will not be finished until spring 2027, after Worcestershire County Council (WCC) announced a second delay.
But the county council said without the ongoing improvements, modelling showed "congestion, queues and journey-time reliability would deteriorate further".
They added it had been designed "to address existing congestion" while providing additional highway capacity to accommodate the "significant planned housing and economic growth around Bromsgrove".
The spokesperson also said the county council was continuing to work closely with Bromsgrove District Council (BDC) to understand the transport implications of any emerging Local Plan.
Price, the former cabinet member responsible for highways, said WCC needed to "look at the bigger picture of Bromsgrove".
"In the short-term, the A38 BREP project will bring benefits to Bromsgrove with reduced journey times [and] reduced congestion," he said.
"But in the long-term with the speculative development we've got going on in Bromsgrove, a lack of local plan, a 2.5 year [housing land] supply, and increased housing targets of 85%, we actually need a transport review."
Bromsgrove's current Local Plan, a council blueprint for where homes and businesses could be built, is due to expire in 2030.
While a new draft plan was put out to consultation last summer, it has yet to be formally adopted by the council.
BDC's deputy leader and cabinet member for planning and strategic housing, Councillor Sue Baxter, said it was "vital" the county council understood the capacity of its roads.
"We rely on their expertise to assess whether the roads could cope with the additional traffic from all proposed developments," she said.
"That is critical, formal advice that we need, both when assessing individual planning applications and allocating future development sites through the Local Plan.
"The district and county council work together on these matters.
"We need the county council to clearly advise when the evidence shows that any proposed development would have unacceptable impact."
The district council's latest housing land supply assessment shows it can only demonstrate about 2.24 years' worth of housing land supply, well below the five years expected under national planning policy.
The shortfall is significant because councils that cannot demonstrate a five-year housing land supply can find it harder to resist applications for new housing development.
In planning terms, this can leave authorities more vulnerable to speculative development proposals on sites that might previously have been refused.
Despite this, Baxter said that while a new Local Plan was being developed, the council remained "committed to protecting local communities and the environment".
Bromsgrove MP Bradley Thomas has written to the government to complain that BREP has caused an "intolerable impact" on residents.
He has also called for an urgent review of the scheme and to engage "the expertise of National Highways in bringing it to a conclusion".
Speaking to the BBC, Thomas said: "The county council haven't shown they've been able to deliver this scheme on time or efficiently.
"My sincere view is that they don't have the expertise to deliver a project of this scale and they have to be held accountable for that."
WCC said it recognised the "very real impact" the roadworks had caused, adding it "fully understands the frustration caused by the disruption and delays".
A county council spokesperson said: "There is no question that the programme has taken longer than anyone would have wanted.
"During construction, contractors have encountered significant unforeseen problems, particularly gas, water, electricity and other utility infrastructure being found in locations or at depths different from those shown in the utility companies' records.
"That has required additional diversion works, redesign and changes to the sequencing of construction.
"These are genuine engineering and delivery issues and they have unfortunately affected the timetable."
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