Representation by Devon County Council (Devon County Council)
- Date submitted
- 11 December 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Devon County Council strongly supports the A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down scheme, along with other schemes currently being progressed at Sparkford to Ilchester and Ilminster to M5 at Taunton, as a vital first step towards achieving a whole A303/A358/A30 route improvement.
The A303/A30 is one of the two main road routes from London to South West England; it is the trunk road corridor between London and Penzance and provides the most direct road link between the South West Peninsula and London and the South East. Despite its strategic importance to the South West region, the route is of poor quality, experiencing considerable congestion and road safety problems, and is seen as an extremely unreliable access point to the South West. As a result, an improvement to the A303/A358/A30 has long been considered a priority by a strong coalition of local authorities.
The average level of delay on the A303 and M5 routes are similar, with similar numbers of incidents observed. There is also no reliable trend of when delay occurs, preventing drivers from being able to make an informed choice before travelling. Drivers to and from the South West therefore do not have a reliable alternative route to the rest of the country. Regular disruption to the rail network further exacerbates these issues, with no reliable alternative mode of travel to the rest of the country.
The Steering Group commissioned a Wider Economic Appraisal at the early stages of the A30/A303/A358 corridor study. This showed that the Devon economy, along with other South West counties of Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset and Cornwall, contribute proportionally less to the UK economy than other regions as measured by GVA per head. Our wages are below the average for the whole South West. We have a unique opportunity to contribute more to the national economy by releasing the untapped potential in the South West economy through investment in this vital piece of infrastructure. The improvements to the A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down section will form an important element of the final whole route upgrade. A refresh of this study will be presented to support this.
Devon County Council strongly support the Government’s commitment to improving the A303/A358/A30 corridor to create a safe, efficient and resilient second strategic route between London and the South West Peninsula. Delivering that commitment is vital to our region’s economic growth and resilience of our transport connectivity with the rest of the UK. It is a critical project with wider implications for the rebalancing of the UK economy and harnessing the productivity potential of the Peninsula region.
However, the full economic benefit for the UK will only be achieved with a full end-to-end improvement along the A303/A358/A30 corridor. The remaining unimproved sections, including the A30 between Honiton and Southfields, will need to receive funding allocations in future RIS periods in order to ensure the proven need for a second strategic link to the economic growth areas in the South West Peninsula are met.