Private developers help to pick up £67m tab 

S300 smart motorway

The government is to kick-start a number of road improvement schemes across England which it claimed would create more than 4,300 jobs and at least 1,700 new homes.

Highways England is paying £16.6m towards the schemes in Wigan, Greater Manchester; Marlow in Buckinghamshire; Newton in Nottinghamshire; Cumbria, and Plymouth from its £100m Growth and Housing Fund, with money from private sector developers and other public funding taking the total investment to around £67m.

Work is expected to start throughout 2018.

Jim O’Sullivan, Highways England chief executive, said the improvements would “ensure England’s strategic road network continues to make a valuable contribution to the prosperity of our country.

“We will continue to use our Growth and Housing Fund, working with a range of local stakeholders to unlock further development sites around the country.”

The five schemes are:

A404/A4155 Westhorpe Interchange improvements, Buckinghamshire (receiving total funding of £1.75m)

M58 Wigan Link Road, Greater Manchester (£23.6m)

A46 RAF Newton, Nottingham (£2.9m)

A590 Cross-a-moor, Cumbria (£5.1m)

Forder Valley Link Road, Plymouth (£37.8m)