The councillor overseeing the soon to be started Spalding Western Relief Road has said funding is “incredibly difficult” when questioned by The Voice about how confident he was that the middle sections would ever be built.
Preparatory work on phase one of five, the most northerly section of the controversial project from Pinchbeck Road, will start on July 6.
Lincolnshire County Council’s executive member for highways, Coun Richard Davies confirmed that funding for sections two, three and four were still unfunded.
When asked by this paper how confident is he that the funding will be found for all of the middle sections of the Spalding Western Relief Road, he responded: “Because the middle sections of the relief road are intended to be built in the long-term, as outlined in the South East Lincolnshire Local Plan, no money has been allocated or secured for them at this stage.
“However, we expect there to be a high level of developer financing for these sections as Spalding and the surrounding areas continue to grow and prosper.
“We will also continue working closely with South Holland District Council to identify any third-party funding opportunities that arise from sources like the Department for Transport, Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government, the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership and other potential government funds.
“It’s incredibly difficult to source funding for major pieces of infrastructure like this all at once, which is why we typically build them in phases or sections – an approach we have had success with in the past.”
The initial consultation on the road had hoped all sections would be completed by 2036, which is also when the South Lincolnshire Local Plan, which the road is a key part of, comes to an end.
The most southerly section has planning permission and is funded, as is the northern section, work on which begins next week.
A ‘welfare facility’ for workers has been set up off Pinchbeck Road ahead of preparatory work starting next week including 16 weeks of archaeological investigations and work on the removal of two Spalding Road properties will commence.
Coun Davies said: “As part of these early enabling works, Eurovia will be taking down two properties on Spalding Road while a team of archaeologists carries out a 16-week investigation of where we’ll be building the northern section of the new relief road.
“The team will also be setting up the project’s site compound over the coming months.
“Eurovia will then return in September, once bird-nesting season has ended, to carry out vegetation clearance, including the removal of trees and other vegetation growth along the route – all ahead of us commencing main construction works this autumn.
“We’re expecting the northern phase of the scheme to take about 20 months to complete, as it involves building a new five-arm roundabout that will link Spalding Road to Vernatt’s Drain; a signalised ‘T’ junction at the western end and into what will be Section 4 of the relief road; and a rail bridge over the Lincoln to Peterborough line.”
