The A46 has been identified by FTA members as a key Regional Trade Route which connects the East Midlands and West Midlands and statistics show that goods vehicles account for 15 per cent of the daily traffic flows.

The new proposals are for a 17 mile two lane carriageway which would reduce congestion and, more importantly, improve safety along a route which has a poor history in terms of road safety. This is a sensible and welcome decision. The proposals also include a bypass for East Stoke and Farndon, with the residents of the villages very much in favour of the proposals following the submission of a recent petition to Parliament.

However, construction of the scheme was due to start in 2008 but now, as a result of the recent work carried out by the East Midlands Regional Assembly (EMRA) in relation to identifying the key Regional Transport Priorities, it has now been confirmed that the start date has been delayed until 2011 at the earliest.

Stephen Kelly, FTA's Head of Policy for the Midlands said, "FTA is disappointed on behalf of its members that the powers that be have not had the foresight to start work on the A46 Newark to Widmerpool improvements sooner rather than later. We realise that money to improve regional transport schemes is limited but surely this was a must for the region. It is extremely frustrating that the scheme cannot start in 2008 due to funding limitations and that the £250 million needed cannot be found. We appreciate that the cost of this scheme would take a large chunk from the region's overall funding allocation for transport improvements, but with the cost of building new transport infrastructure rising, surely it would be common sense to fund this scheme now rather than in 2011 when the cost could potentially be double! It is also disappointing that the money to fund the scheme could not be found from the productivity element of the Transport Innovation Fund.

"The upshot of it all is more misery and delays along this route, which is crying out for immediate improvements. We have come full circle and we are now back to square one!"