Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the A1-A19 Hickleton Bypass Road scheme has entered the Road Improvement Strategy (a) programme and (b) development stage; whether formal approvals have been granted; and whether it will progress into the next strategy phase.

There is no A1-A19 Hickleton Bypass scheme, or schemes, within the Department’s current Major Road Network/ Large Local Majors (MRN/ LLM) programme. Network North announced that we will be launching a new round of the ‘Major Road Network’ programme that supports local authorities to enhance and renew the most important local authority roads that support regional growth and connectivity. We will be issuing guidance on bidding and identifying new schemes in the Spring and look forward to working with local authorities on schemes such as this one. It would be for the local authority in the first instance as a potential promoter for this scheme, or schemes, to consider putting them forward for funding as part of that fund once the scheme opens. There is no relevant scheme that is part of the government’s Road Investment Strategy, which focuses on investment in the Strategic Road Network managed by National Highways, rather than local authority roads.

The Department has no cost estimates or information on completion dates for an A1-A19 Hickleton bypass scheme or schemes.