Government will not provide funding for £55m road

The government has confirmed it will not fund a £55m relief road despite it being granted planning permission.

The Blyth Relief Road was proposed to alleviate congestion through the construction of a new dual carriageway connecting two of the town's busiest roads.

Northumberland County Council's Conservative administration criticised the decision, but the Department for Transport (DfT) said the project was not funded by the previous government.

A DfT spokesperson said: "Given the challenging financial picture we inherited, we have had to make difficult decisions on a number of road projects and can only progress schemes that are good value for money for taxpayers."

Blyth's two main roads, the A193 Cowpen Road and the A1061 Laverock Hall Road, each carry about 20,000 vehicles each day and there is heavy traffic during peak times.

A planning application was approved in April and land connecting the two roads was earmarked in June.

The local authority said it had already contributed £4.2m towards the £55m scheme and said it was willing to put up a total of 15% of the total cost.

However, the government said it had chosen 16 major road schemes elsewhere through its Road Investment Strategy, considered to be "the best value for money" and deliver the "greatest benefits" to local residents.

Richard Wearmouth, the council's deputy leader, said: "Our county has now seen over half a billion pounds in roads funding cancelled by Labour.

"Sadly it confirms when it comes to investment in 'the north', Andy Burnham thinks the north starts and ends in Manchester.

"What next? Well as we always do we will work with Mayor McGuinness to see if we can somehow make this project work with regional funding, we don't give up without a fight. But this cannot go on."

However, Blyth and Ashington's Labour MP Ian Lavery said some residents would be "relieved by the decision" and he would seek an urgent meeting with Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander to ensure improvements to Blyth's infrastructure.

"This is yet another project that was promised by the previous government without the funding required to deliver it, seemingly as a way of securing votes rather than providing a realistic plan," he said.

"We must go back to the drawing board and develop a transport solution that genuinely tackles Blyth's traffic problems, supports future growth and delivers real value for taxpayers' money."