Lancashire hands back £140m govt roads funding

Lancashire County Council, Lancaster City Council, and Homes England have returned the cash and gone back to the drawing board on plans to deliver a new layout for Junction 33 of the M6 and to unlock access to the proposed Bailrigg Garden Village.

The county council said inflation had seen the cost of the project rise and that a new solution now needs to be worked up.

The £100m funding for the scheme was awarded from the government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund, in addition to another £40m for Lancaster city centre works. This funding will now be returned to the government.

Aidy Riggott, cabinet member for economic development and growth at the county council, said: “We’ve been working hard to try and deliver these transport and community improvements and unlock access to the proposed garden village, but we’re not able to continue with the proposals in their current form.

“In particular, we’re faced with rising costs due to inflation, which would have affected how we can deliver these improvements within the current plans.”

Contractor Costain was appointed to craft a detailed design for the highways project and facilitate stakeholder engagement in March 2022.

A spokesperson for Costain told Place North West that the company was contracted to work on a consultancy basis so the decision to suspend the scheme will have “no material impact”.

Proposed works would have unlocked access to the 5,000-home Bailrigg Garden Village in South Lancaster, approved by Lancaster City Council in February 2022.

Lancaster City Council will now work with Lancashire County Council and Homes England to develop a new vision to deliver housing in the area, alongside infrastructure such as sustainable transport, schools, healthcare, and employment.

Cllr Phillip Black, Leader of Lancaster City Council, said: “I am pleased that the County Council and Homes England have taken the sensible decision to suspend and re-evaluate plans for South Lancaster in light of inflationary pressures and rising costs.

“However, as a government Planning Inspector recently acknowledged, there is an overriding need for housing within the Lancaster district”, he continued. “All parties involved recognise that the South Lancaster area still has a part to play in meeting this housing need in the future, but now is the time to evolve our strategic vision of housing developments in our district.”