Fresh calls made for safety improvements on the A1 in Northumberland as MPs argue decision to scrap 'unfunded' dualling scheme

The invitation was issued by David Smith, Labour MP for North Northumberland, during a debate on roads in the House of Commons.

Plans to dual 13 miles of the route between Morpeth and Ellingham were scrapped by the new government last October after the Department for Transport deemed the scheme ‘unfunded and unaffordable’.

Mr Smith has held discussions with National Highways bosses about potential safety improvements at key junctions but is also pressing to maximise government investment on the 50-mile stretch of the route to Berwick.

He said: “On the point of road safety, after the previous Conservative Government singularly failed to dual the A1 in my constituency, attention must now turn to the safety of that road.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander responded: "While we cannot reopen the decision on dualling the A1, we are happy to look at whether smaller-scale schemes could address specific issues around safety and congestion on that very important road.”

Conservative MP John Lamont, Berwickshire, said the government’s decision to cancel the proposed dualling upgrade ‘has caused great upset’.

“The A1 is a vital road for the local economy,” he said. “That road supports local jobs and the local economy. Savagely cutting that funding and scrapping the investment to improve that road will undoubtedly cause economic hardship for the communities that rely on that road.

"That A1 is crucial to North Northumberland and to my constituents. Its road safety is terrible. Forget the economic arguments; the safety arguments make it all the more important.”

Shadow environment minister Robbie Moore, a former Alnwick councillor, added: “This Labour Government’s decision to scrap the funding allocated for the A1 upgrade not only affects local businesses in Alnwick and the safety of the crossings in Felton and Ellingham, and the like, but affects people who own land either side of the A1 who have been put through huge uncertainty.”

Hexham MP Joe Morris, Labour, responded: “The Government in which they served were very much responsible for misleading the people of Northumberland by promising the A1 dualling without providing any money for it.”