Vital project stopping Nottinghamshire roads 'grinding to a halt' could be scrapped

A project slashing congestion at major roundabouts and junctions across Nottinghamshire could be scrapped as delays caused by government uncertainty cost £2 million a year. The previous Conservative government agreed to fund the vast majority of the Nottinghamshire County Council project, which was due to start in August, but the same commitment has not yet been made by Labour.

If the funding is not approved in the first Budget delivered by Rachel Reeves on Wednesday (October 30), those behind the project now say they will have to "look really hard" at whether it is viable. The £34.4 million project would deliver improvements at three roundabouts along the A614 and A6097 corridor between Ollerton and East Bridgford, including the notoriously congested Ollerton Roundabout.

The project, which has been in the works since 2019, would also improve two other junctions and support new housing developments in all the affected areas. The previous Conservative government intended to fund the project to the tune of over £20 million, with the final confirmation on that having initially been due in July before work began a month later.

Yet the July general election and change of government means the project has been plunged into uncertainty. Work has been on hold and Nottinghamshire County Council's leader has repeatedly asked for the same funding commitment to be made.

In the absence of such a commitment so far, Councillor Ben Bradley says The Budget could be the day that decides the future of the project. The council leader said: "The cost is already a million quid up on where it was. You get into the winter where there's significant pressure on our highways teams, it gets really difficult to to even get started and the whole thing is at risk really.

"If we're not going to get it confirmed soon, then every six months of delay is another million pounds on the costs because of inflation and contract pressures and everything else. The Budget has to be the last date for this because as I say, you're getting into winter, you're getting the weather, we know that we're going to have to put additional resources into road maintenance and other things over the winter

"If it doesn't start now, it doesn't start until the spring. That's a year's delay, that's two million quid we've got to find.

"It becomes really, really difficult to make it a viable project. If it doesn't come [in The Budget], we're going to have to look really hard at whether we can afford to do it."

Work to Ollerton Roundabout would see new lanes created on the busiest approaches, as well as new pedestrian crossings and a speed limit reduction. The White Post roundabout at Farnsfield would get significant resurfacing and lining, whilst the Lowdham Roundabout would also be expanded.

The project would also fund significant junction improvements, including new lanes at the junction of Bridgford Street and Kirk Hill in East Bridgford. With the government planning to deliver more than a thousand extra homes every year in Nottinghamshire, one councillor has said the county's roads will "grind to a halt" without the improvements.

Transport secretary Louise Haigh has previously confirmed that all capital projects under her brief are under review, saying: "The gap between promised schemes and the money available to deliver them has been made clear to me. There has been a lack of openness with the public about the status of schemes - some of which were cancelled or paused by the previous government, without proper communication to the public."