Budget for new A50 junction doubles, work not due to start until 2027 amid “catastrophic” financial risks

The proposed new A50 junction and link road at Sinfin. Image from Pegasus Planning Group

By Eddie Bisknell – Local Democracy Reporting Service

The budget for Derby’s long-awaited new A50 junction has doubled, surpassing £78 million, while work on the project has been delayed yet again.

Formal plans for a new A50 junction at Deepdale Lane, south of Sinfin and Stenson fields and north of Barrow upon Trent, have been in the works for seven years.

Costs had initially been £37.5 million with a start date in 2023 and completion in early 2025.

However, spades are yet to go in the ground with work now not due to start until April 2027, with a budget which now sits at £78.04 million.

This follows an update from the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA), which is helping to fund the scheme, along with money from central Government, housing developers, Derbyshire County Council and Derby City Council.

Of the now £78 million budget, £6 million is from private developers, connected to approved plans for housing in the area.

The long-awaited junction, which featured public consultation in 2019 and planning approval in 2021, is the lynchpin facilitating plans for upwards of 6,000 homes and creation of 5,000 jobs through business space expansion between Stenson Fields, Sinfin and Chellaston.

Plans relating to the homes and business space have long been in limbo with many still in the earmarked blueprint stage while infrastructure – primarily the A50 junction – remain in the wind.

Housing and business space plans from South Derbyshire District Council and the city council both lean heavily on the eventual homes and employment units being built.

EMCCA is set to fund a £2.5 million grant aimed at kickstarting the A50 junction into action after years in limbo – adding to the £1.5 million it gave in the last financial year.

This aims to finalise piecing together the required land, a compulsory purchase inquiry and surpassing planning conditions and get the case to full business case stage.

The combined authority adds that a further grant of £18.64 million from the Transport for City Regions fund would be essential to plug the gap in the project largely triggered by delays and associated inflation increases.

Without this grant, EMCCA said: “Even if the £2.5 million grant is agreed, the remainer grant of £18.64 million is essential to cover the funding gap and bring the construction to a conclusion

“Not having access to this grant would be catastrophic to the project as the scheme would potentially be regarded as ‘unfunded’ which would mean progression to CPO inquiry wouldn’t be possible; programme would slip and the loss of Levelling-Up Fund would be a very real risk, meaning the whole scheme would be undeliverable.”

The combined authority report makes reference to a secondary school being delivered on the site, but the Government announced in December that it was currently “minded to cancel” this school after years of planning.

In March last year, the county council had agreed to seize 129 acres of land from private landowners and farmers for the junction and associated link road, saying it would also help facilitate £210 million in “transport economy efficiency” through reduced congestion.

The last update on the scheme as a whole was issued last February when its budget increased from £55.6 million to £70.4 million.

It had said work was due to start in March 2025 and be complete by March 2029.

The Government, under Conservative administration, awarded the project £49.6 million in October 2021 and approval has now had to be agreed by the Labour administration to be able to extend when this money is spent past March 2026.

There have been five Transport Secretaries – three Conservative and two Labour – since the funding was approved, while there have also been four Prime Ministers, three of which were Conservative and one Labour.

Risks remain that this money could be “clawed back” if it is not spent, authorities have said.

The combined authority details: “The major source of project grant is from the Levelling Up Fund.

“Objectives relating to this were set by previous Conservative Government; the LUF has been reviewed by the new Government and although the programme hasn’t been extended, the previous (existing) commitments for LUF grant have been confirmed with advanced projects – of which, the South Derbyshire Growth Zone is one.

“The project faces a challenge in the form of a gap between available budget and the estimated outturn cost.

“Delays in discussions with the Department for Transport resulted in additional time in project development which have had commensurate consequences on programme and the inevitable inflationary increase in costs.

“Most, if not all of the funding gap may be recoverable through developer contributions (which already has a £6m contribution committed).

“Recovery of the additional contributions is subject to determination through the planning process though and will not become available until after the contractor costs of the infrastructure need to be met.”

EMCCA said the extra £2.5 million will help ease cashflow until the Government grant comes into use and developer contributions are triggered and can be called on.