'We've lost too many lives' - council adds to pressure for A1 dualling in Northumberland

Group leaders from across the political divide will ask for a meeting with Heidi Alexander to discuss the issue, with a letter set to urge ministers to reconsider the 2024 decision to scrap the scheme.

As part of a major motion backed at full council, local businesses and other key sectors will also be engaged to make the “strongest possible case” for dualling the road.

Council leader Glen Sanderson said: “This has got to be cross party. I will write to the Secretary of State and ask for an urgent, cross party meeting with all group leaders.

“By September, we will have evidence to put to National Highways that will force them to reopen the case and move forward. If we don’t do something, what will the A1 look like in 10 years time?

“What is the value of a life? We need to reopen the case. It can’t be right that the Government – whichever Government it is – doesn’t listen to us on this.”

Plans were in place to dual 13 miles of the A1 between Morpeth and Ellingham. However, the Government scrapped the scheme in 2024, claiming it was “unaffordable”.

Cllr David Bawn said: “You can get in the car in Naples and, aside from a little bit across the Channel, you can be on dual carriageway all the way to Morpeth. The Department for Transport’s numbers need to be crunched in a different way.

“It is value for money; it is value for lives. It is a no-brainer for us, but we need to sell it to London and the DfT in language they understand.”

Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Isabel Hunter, who has been involved in the campaign for years, added: “We need to progress this. There can be no party politics, we need to take that out of it. Hopefully, everybody will support this.

“We’re not just trying to save a few minutes on a drive; we’re actually trying to save lives. Too many lives have been lost, too many people have suffered injuries.

“We need to get this A1 dualled right up to the Scottish border. We have got to keep working together, we can’t lose any more lives – accidents are happening daily now and we have lost too many.”

Labour leader Cllr Scott Dickinson said: “We have managed to neutralise the party politics to work on something that benefits everyone. As somebody whose parents were in a serious accident on that road, it is personal to me and it is personal to all of us who represent wards along the stretch.

“We must all unite and support this. A united voice will be much more powerful than any of us taking chunks out of each other about who did what and who didn’t.”

And Reform UK leader Cllr Rick Baker added: “It is common sense. This has been going on for years and it really needs to have an end.”

Green councillor Antonia Azocar-Nevin gave a particularly personal reason for backing the motion.

She said: “Unfortunately, last month my brother’s friend was killed in a road traffic incident on the A1. That focused my attention even more on how we must create safer roads, so that families and friends don’t suffer the grief of having someone killed or seriously injured.”