Threat to A453 improvement plans

MULTI-MILLION pound plans to upgrade one of Nottingham's busiest roads are under threat, former chancellor Ken Clarke said today.

The Rushcliffe MP believes "something has to give" after Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced a £1.5bn payout on a recession-busting nationwide new homes scheme.

And he fears the £168m scheme to widen the A453 – one of Nottingham's busiest and most often clogged arterial routes – is the type of project which will be put on the back burner.

Mr Clarke, who is shadow business secretary, said: "The Government are trying to spend money when they have very little of it, and something will have to give. I'm afraid it will be the A453.

"The Transport budget is often where money needed for other projects comes from and the A435 is just the type of scheme to get cut."

The Evening Post revealed earlier this week that £165m set aside by the Government for the Decent Homes scheme – which aims to improve Nottingham's rundown former council homes – is also under threat from the Prime Minister's new homes announcement.

Nottingham will lose £333m of Government spending if neither the A453 or Decent Homes scheme go ahead.

The A453 upgrade is said to be crucial for Notts' economic development and important for a number of other schemes, including Donington Park hosting the British Grand Prix, the Parkway railway station and to provide transport links to new homes planned in Rushcliffe.

Mr Brown was asked this week to guarantee he would not raid regional transport budgets – like the one for the A453 widening – to pay for the new home building scheme.

Instead he said: "I think it is important to recognise that spending on transport is up nearly 100% in real terms over the last 12 years."

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis was later asked the same question by a select committee member. He said the amount of money allocated to regional transport budgets depended on available resources at the time.

"If one were in a position of constraint then what I would have a responsibility to do as a Secretary of State is look across the department at what the options are," he said.

The East Midlands Regional Assembly (EMRA) has warned the cost of the A453 widening, which was scheduled to begin at the end of 2010, could shoot up if it is delayed.

An EMRA spokesman said: "The A453 has been in the gestation period for an awfully long time and there have been lots of talks, lots of deliberation, lots of statements, lots of planning and work."

"A huge amount of effort and resources have been extended by the public sector to get it to this stage.

"If it was delayed for a couple of years then you could expect to see the cost of the project rise."

A DFT spokesman said the A453, as the East Midlands' top priority, was still dependent on ministerial approval.

"The region has confirmed that the A453 Nottingham to M1 J24 improvement is a priority and the Highways Agency is progressing the scheme through the statutory procedures."