A66 road dualling approved again after spending review
The DfT said the amount of HGV traffic on the A66, which also has single lane sections in County Durham, was more than twice the national average for a road of this kind.It added the widening would shave up to 12 minutes off journeys and boost the economy by speeding up access to other routes such as the M6 and A1 (M), as well as to ports such as Stranraer in south-west Scotland.A timeline for the work to be carried out is yet to be confirmed.Tim Farron, the LibDem MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, had joined forces with the former Conservative Prime Minister and MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire Rishi Sunak to press for the work to be carried out on the road which crosses their constituencies.Farron said the connection to other routes made "so much sense for the economy" and the work would improve safety on the road."For those people who are most concerned locally about the loss of life on the A66, I think for them and for me this is a moment of great relief," he said.
'More traffic' fear
The plan to dual the A66 had been subject of a failed legal challenge by Transport Action Network (TAN).The group believes the work to upgrade 18 miles of single carriageway offered "poor" value for money and would increase pollution.Chris Todd, TAN's director, said the project would cost "more than it will ever deliver in economic benefits"."It represents another set back for the government's growth agenda. The only thing that this will grow is more traffic and more HGVs on our road, making them less safe."This will lead to nearly three million tons of carbon - it completely contradicts the government's drive for decarbonisation and nature protection."But Farron said the scheme would benefit local people and ease traffic."What really peaks carbon emissions is when you have thousands and thousands of vehicle, including 25% of them being freight, stood still belching out fumes because of all the traffic hold-ups because of the accidents and that's one of the reasons why I think that case fell."Campbell-Savours said there was "nothing environmentally friendly" about the current congestion."For many of us it's exactly about better junctions, safer junctions and a road system that doesn't see Penrith getting gnarled up every weekend," he said.The DfT has announced a wider £92bn investment across England, including upgrading road and rail networks and extending the £3 bus cap.
Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
12 minutes ago
- The Guardian
BMW bosses unfairly dismissed disabled worker after spying on him
A disabled BMW worker was discriminated against and unfairly dismissed after bosses authorised covert surveillance on him, believing he was exaggerating his back pain, a tribunal has found. Mohamed Kerita, who worked in the firm's manufacturing factory, suffered with back pain from 2017, the tribunal in Reading heard. In March 2023, a physiotherapist emailed the absence manager Richard Darvill to say that Kerita had been signed off work by his GP for two months. The physiotherapist said he could not explain the level of pain Kerita was experiencing and why he remained unfit for work, the tribunal heard. Darvill and the HR manager Akhil Patel instructed the security firm G4S to carry out surveillance of the claimant, which the employment judge, Emma Jane Hawksworth, said was a 'highly unusual step'. A G4S surveillance operative followed Kerita and filmed him from behind walking about three miles in about one and a half hours, even though the claimant never said he could not walk, the tribunal heard. In a report, they said that there was 'no indication whatsoever that the claimant had lower back, leg or shoulder pain or was experiencing sickness or dizziness', despite not filming Kerita's face. Darvill later approached a senior manager to get more funding for further surveillance to ensure a 'robust outcome', the tribunal heard. In May 2023, Kerita was dismissed for gross misconduct, including a fraudulent claim of company sick pay and unacceptable levels of absence. During a disciplinary meeting, he had said that he was in the wrong area and needed light duties but his managers told him there were none and sent him home, the tribunal heard. The tribunal found that Kerita's back pain met the definition of a disability under the Equality Act 2010. Judge Hawksworth said it could be inferred that managers 'had a level of distrust or hostility towards associates with back conditions, and were unwilling to take their word for it that they had a back problem, or were quick to conclude that a person with a back condition was not being honest about their symptoms'. The judge added: 'We have found that the respondent made assumptions about what the claimant had told them about his ability to walk and about the G4S surveillance film.' Kerita's claims of failure to make reasonable adjustments, disability discrimination and unfair dismissal succeeded.
Daily Mail
16 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
IAIN DUNCAN SMITH: Britain's broken welfare system costs billions and traps claimants in long-term dependency
Sometimes you come across a statistic that stops you in your tracks. Soon, the welfare system will pay £2,500 more to someone on benefits than the post-tax earnings of someone working full time on the national living wage. New research by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) shows that, by 2026, an out-of-work claimant receiving average Universal Credit (UC) and Personal Independence Payments (PIP) due to ill health will receive £25,000 a year, compared with the £22,500 a full-time worker on the minimum wage would take home after tax. In other cases, such as a single parent claiming for anxiety and a child with ADHD, total annual support can reach nearly £37,000 – over £14,000 more than a full-time job. Let's be clear, this isn't a swipe at claimants – many of whom are trying to do right by themselves and their families. But it must be a wake-up call for policymakers. A system designed to protect those in genuine need now appears to disincentivise work, trap people in long-term dependency, and leave them without meaningful support to recover. Before Covid, in my role as Work and Pensions Secretary, my reforms saw unemployment benefits capped and UC introduced so that jobseekers were always better off in work. We then saw record employment, over one million more disabled people in work, and workless households falling to their lowest level ever. But since the lockdowns of 2020, which saw assessments relaxed, long-term sickness claims have exploded, rising to almost 3,000 per day. The number of people receiving PIP for anxiety and depression has trebled. Meanwhile, the number of households where no one has ever worked has doubled. We now spend more on health and disability benefits than ever before – and are on course to reach £100billion by the end of the decade, at a time when, as the Office for Budget Responsibility warned this week, we are in a fiscally 'vulnerable position '. Pumping in ever more money without reform is not sustainable, nor is it compassionate. To their credit, some ministers recognise this challenge. Liz Kendall is right to want to bring welfare costs under control and to address the surge in claims since the pandemic, particularly for mental health. But there's a world of difference between rushed cuts and lasting reform. The Treasury's push to get quick savings on the books in time for the Spring resulted in a botched top-slicing operation, which would leave many of those most in need with less support, and ultimately a U-turn that leaves the system unreformed and the taxpayer £3billion worse off. The answer lies in rebalancing the system. Real reform means tightening eligibility for those with less severe mental health conditions and reinvesting in proven support. These proposals are assisted by the fact that ESA (an earlier sickness benefit) is now rolling into UC, providing more levers to help people back to work. With the NHS recognising that employment is a health treatment for many people with mental health conditions, UC can help make these proposed reforms deliver that. The CSJ's research shows that more than £7billion could be saved through this approach, a portion of which should be used to radically expand NHS Talking Therapies and set up a National Work and Health Service to stop people spiralling out of work in the first place. This is, I believe, the unfinished business of welfare reform. And it is the path to building a system fit for the 2030s: one that protects the vulnerable, supports people towards independence, and always makes work pay. The sooner we return to that principle, the better – for individuals, for families, and for the country.
Daily Mail
16 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Ex-Tory chairman Sir Jake Berry defects to Reform UK and declares it is 'the last chance to pull Britain back'
Former Tory chairman Sir Jake Berry has defected to Reform UK, saying Nigel Farage 's party is the 'last chance to pull Britain back from decline'. The close ally of Boris Johnson, 46, announced on Wednesday night he had left the Conservatives after 25 years of membership. It is the latest blow for Kemi Badenoch 's party which is slipping behind Reform UK in the polls. Sir Jake made the announcement via The Sun newspaper, saying the Tories had 'lost their way'. He said: 'Our streets are completely lawless. Migration is out of control. Taxes are going through the roof. 'And day after day, I hear from people in my community and beyond who say the same thing: 'This isn't the Britain I grew up in'.' Sir Jake added: 'For 25 years, I was proud to call myself a Conservative. Fourteen of those years, I served as an MP. 'I even sat at the Cabinet table twice. I believed in it. I gave it everything. Because I believed politics could still make this country better. 'But let's not kid ourselves. Britain is broken. It didn't start with Labour. The Conservative governments I was part of share the blame.'
