THE leader of Northumberland County Council has reiterated his pledge to do all he can to persuade the Department for Transport to dual the A1 in the county. 

Councillor Glen Sanderson said he was “surprised and disappointed” on Tuesday (September 5) when the Government delayed a long-awaited final decision on proposals to dual the road from Morpeth to Ellingham by an additional nine months.

The DfT decision was originally due in January 2022, but has now been delayed four times – much to the frustration of campaigners who have spent more than three decades fighting to get the work done.

Speaking at Wednesday’s meeting of Northumberland County Council, Cllr Sanderson said he believed the door was still open despite the latest setback – and pledged to “knock the door down” if necessary.

The Conservative councillor said: “The door is still open. Many, many other projects have been ditched completely. It is up to us to continue to make the case on behalf of the people we all represent – that making changes to this road is essential.

“This is a road that looks like it is from the 1950s, and it is a road that should be fit for where we are now, for all the people that use it to get to work, to take the kids to school, for our tourists and our industries, and particularly for those people who have been hurt or killed on those single-carriageway sections over the last 20 to 30 years since we have been campaigning for this.

“For them, we must do everything we can to make this road safer. I’m disappointed, but I feel that we, as a county council, can make sure we can make the case to the secretary of state by knocking on that open door if necessary, pushing it wide open, and knocking it down if we have to.”

Earlier this year, a Freedom of Information Request by the Local Democracy Reporting Service found that there had been 129 accidents on the two single-carriageway sections of the A1 in Northumberland since the start of 2019. Of these, 32 were deemed as “serious” by police and five resulted in fatalities.

While Cllr Sanderson said he remained hopeful, opposition councillors were less convinced following the repeated delays.

Northumberland Labour leader Cllr Scott Dickinson said: “Cllr Sanderson is saying he is pushing against an open door – but the open door has been closed for the fourth time – this is the fourth stall on this project.”

Independent group leader Derek Kennedy and Mayor of Hexham added: “This is about is as Northumberland suffering at the expense of a lack of decision-making. The A1 is the key artery that links the whole of the county together.”

Responding to their concerns, Cllr Sanderson called for unity and implored his opposite numbers not to make it a “party political issue”.

He argued: “We have to make sure we get our case heard loud and clear. I think the case is powerful and we will work cross-party – because I do not want this to become a party political issue – to make sure our voice is united in getting the improvements we need.

“I’m not going to make this a party political issue and I hope you don’t. I hope we can work together to take the campaign forward. We are all on the same page.”

The final decision is now due on June 5, 2024 – subject to any further delays. If approved, the proposed development would see the widening of a 12.8-mile stretch of the A1 between Morpeth to Ellingham with nine miles of online widening and 3.8 miles of new, offline highway.