The case to convince the government to fund a multi-million pound road, which would unlock thousands of new homes, is to be lodged by the end of the year.
Proposals for 4,000 new homes between West Winch and the Hardwick roundabout at King’s Lynn have been in the pipeline for years, but hinge on a new access road being built.
Norfolk County Council hopes that road, the West Winch Housing Access Road, will be funded by the Department for Transport (DfT).
The road would form part of the A10 to the south of King’s Lynn and east of West Winch, linking to the A47 via a new roundabout.
The section of the A47 between that new roundabout and the existing A10/A47 Hardwick junction would be made into dual carriageway.
Last year, the road was prioritised for investment by Transport East - the transport body covering Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Southend-on-Sea.
However, when a draft strategic outline business case was submitted to the DfT, in a bid to get money, civil servants said they wanted further information.
Alexandra Kemp, independent county councillor for Clenchwarton and King’s Lynn South, raised the issue at a recent meeting of the county council’s cabinet, where she cast doubt on whether the government would fund the road.
Martin Wilby, the council’s cabinet member for highways and infrastructure, said the government had not refused the application and that the council had responded to the request for extra information.
Mr Wilby said a revised strategic outline business case had been prepared.
He said: “That strategic outline business case indicates that the scheme demonstrates high value for money - due to the nature of the alignment of the route, this is predicated on housing delivery benefits rather than traditional transport benefits.
“We are currently finalising the updated case for the scheme and intend to submit this to the DfT by the end of the year.
“The importance of the scheme to Norfolk continues to be recognised in our Norfolk Strategic Infrastructure Development Plan, and we are continuing to work hard to try to secure the funding needed.”
The estimated cost of the road is between £30m to £50m.
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