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MPs call for dualling of A11

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28th July 2010

The government has said there is a strong economic case for dualling the final section of the A11, but no final decision has been made.

West Suffolk MP Matthew Hancock (Con) led a Westminster Hall debate yesterday in support of proposals to turn the last single carriageway section of the A11 into a dual carriageway.

The final single carriageway stretch links Norwich to the M11 motorway.

Hancock told the MPs the economic case for dualling the final section of the A11 was "compelling".

"Consultants working for the Highways Agency estimate that for that £134m cost the project will generate over £19m in indirect taxes, and economic benefits of over £550m for consumers, and £1.1bn for businesses," he said.

"So on the government's own figures, benefits are over 20 times the cost. That is an astonishing figure."

He said a Highways Agency report found that there would be productivity benefits in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with these benefits concentrated on Thetford, Norwich and Great Yarmouth.

Other MPs speaking in favour of the dualling included Elizabeth Truss (Con, South West Norfolk), Ben Gummer (Con, Ipswich), Simon Wright (Lib Dem, Norwich South) and Peter Aldous (Con, Waveney).

Shadow transport minister William Bain said that he supported the case for dualling the section of the A11.

He said a strong case had been made by the Norfolk and Suffolk MPs in Parliament

Bain added: "I hope that the minister will show today that he and the secretary of state are prepared to fight for investment in our roads, buses and trains, and do not simply see their budget as one which is ripe for pruning by the chancellor."

Responding for the government, transport minister Mike Penning said he had been impressed by the case.

However no decision can be taken on whether to dual the final stretch of the A11 until the comprehensive spending review.

But he added: "The business argument is there."

He recognised that other factors also need to be considered such as "pollution, and the environmental effects on constituents of that kind of congestion on the road".

Penning recognised that analysis done for his department had given the "very, very high" benefit to cost radio of 20 for dualling the sole remaining carriageway stretch of the road between Barton-Mills and Thetford.

He emphasised that he was unable to confirm that the project would be given the go-ahead.

Concluding, he said: "I promise to look at all the environmental, business, community and pollution advantages of each scheme, including the A11 scheme. I most certainly will do that."

During the election campaign, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg pledged that if he were to win power at the election, the road would be turned into a dual carriageway.

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