Brigg and Goole MP Andrew Percy has succeeded in his call for a meeting with Transport Minister, Norman Baker MP, to discuss the delayed upgrade of the A160.
Mr Percy raised the issue in the House of Commons at Transport Questions and called for Mr Baker to meet with a cross-party delegation to discuss the A160 scheme following the news this week that the upgrade is now likely to be funded in 2015. The Minister agreed to the meeting following Mr Percy’s request.
Andrew Percy MP says, “The previous Government gave the go-ahead to a £100 million-plus upgrade of the A160 without actually explaining how they would fund it.
The Coalition had to look at all existing spending commitments to see if they were affordable given the state the previous Government left the country’s finances in. Fortunately, the Coalition has only cut transport infrastructure funding by 11% as opposed to the 50% Labour planned, meaning that this scheme is still likely to be funded in 2015.
Obviously we are disappointed that the scheme is not happening earlier, which is why Martin Vickers and I called for a cross-party delegation to meet with Norman Baker. I am pleased that the Minister agreed to the meeting – it shows real commitment to our area that he is willing to discuss the situation on a cross-party basis.
It is important that we work together across parties to see how we can move forward with the scheme. Importantly though, this decision will not affect the massive investment planned for the South Humber Gateway.”