Milestone 1:

In the much-publicised financial statement which the Chancellor delivered on 23rd September, whilst attracting huge publicity, had hidden deep in the accompanying written statement a list of significant infrastructure projects, with the A417 being listed as number 2 amongst them. This indicates that the funding on £450 million is still planned.

Milestone 2:

At the Conservative Party Conference, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, met with Nick Aldworth, Regional Delivery Director for the Southwest, who confirmed that the Development Consent Orders (DCO) legal and planning process has been completed by the planning inspectorate and currently awaits confirmation from the new Secretary of State, The Rt Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP, hopefully in November.  

Highways England are then planning for their preferred contractor, Kier, to start work in 2023. The initial phases will be ground clearance and setting up work cabins at either end of the project.

Cotswolds MP, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown is in intense discussions with Highways England to minimise the number of lane closures during construction, with particular emphasis on complete road closures, which would cause severe disruption to a large area.

Commenting, Sir Geoffrey said:

“Taken together these developments are the most positive we’ve had toward commencement of the scheme in 15 years. I am reasonably positive that it will actually happen at long last!”