Norfolk County Council to receive more than £200m for a new link road

The Norwich Western Link has been given the go-ahead by ministers, who have agreed to pay more than £210m towards the cost of the link road.

The upgrade began in early 2020, aimed at tackling the congestion problems around the adjoining Black Country Route.

The road is one of 70 schemes named to receive a share of the fund provided by Prime Minister Rishi Sunk.

Approved

The Department for Transport (DfT) have approved an outline business case (OBC) for the highway authority’s Norwich Western Link project. This will see a new 3.9 mile dual carriageway road built to the west of the city to connect the Northern Distributor Road to the A47.

National Highways’ project to dual the A47 between North Tuddenham and Easton as well as the new road would complete a fully dualled route around Norwich.

Council leader Kay Mason Billig, said:

"I’m delighted the government is showing its confidence in Norfolk by supporting the Norwich Western Link. This will make a huge difference to local people, tackling congestion and poor air quality.

"It enables us to complete this long overdue ring road around Norwich and unlock further opportunities for economic growth - providing more of the high-skilled, well-paid jobs that Norfolk needs."

Contribution

The contribution represents 85% of the current £251m cost of the Large Local Major (LLM) scheme. The Government’s recent Network North announcement pledged to increase central government contributions to 100% of ‘most’ LLM and Major Road Network (MRN) schemes.

Cllr Graham Plant, the council’s cabinet member for highways, transport and infrastructure, said:

"Today’s announcement gives us a commitment from central government to fund the majority of the cost of the project and will bring an anticipated £213m of national investment into the county, with the potential for the government contribution to be uplifted to cover even more of the costs."

The DfT told Highways that it would discuss individual schemes with local authorities in due course.

Norfolk County Council awarded the contract to design and build the Norwich Western Link road to Ferrovial Construction in 2021.

Council leader Kay Mason Billig, said:

“I’m delighted the government is showing its confidence in Norfolk by supporting the Norwich Western Link. This will make a huge difference to local people, tackling congestion and poor air quality.

"It enables us to complete this long overdue ring road around Norwich and unlock further opportunities for economic growth - providing more of the high-skilled, well-paid jobs that Norfolk needs.”