Work to dual the final stretch of the A11 will begin early next year, the government has revealed.

In a letter to South West Norfolk MP Elizabeth Truss, Roads Minister Mike Penning said work to duall the final nine-mile stretch between Thetford and Barton Mills would begin between January and March.

It is the first time a start date has been revealed for the �134m project and work is expected to be completed by 2014/15.

The letter, addressed to Miss Truss on Department for Transport headed paper and dated March 21, said: 'The A11 Fiveways to Thetford improvement scheme is one of the 14 schemes announced in October 2010 and one of the four schemes now scheduled to start in 2012/13 (between January and March 2013), subject to the completion of the statutory process.'

For more on the story see tomorrow's newspaper.