Plea to dual road after 'chilling' deaths

The former Prime Minister is joining forces with a rival MP to call for a key road to be dualled after a "chilling" number of deaths.

Tim Farron, Lib-Dem MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale in Cumbria, and Rishi Sunak, Tory MP for Richmond and Northallerton in Yorkshire, have written to the government to make the case for work on the A66 from Penrith to Scotch Corner.

Farron said 12 people had died in 2023 along the stretch of road and it was a "no brainer" to improve safety.

When he raised the issue in Parliament last month, Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer said the government had inherited "a broken economy" and spending had to be reviewed.

The scheme, known as the Northern Trans-Pennine Project, was first proposed in 2016 and had been given the go-ahead by Sunak's government in March.

However, the new Labour government announced it was reviewing all major infrastructure plans.

Farron fears the £1.3bn scheme may be scrapped and has requested a meeting with Starmer and his neighbouring MP Sunak.

In their letter, the MPs told Starmer there had been 198 accidents between 2018 and 2023 along the Penrith to Scotch Corner stretch of the A66, with 10 deaths in a short section of the road that crosses the Eden Valley in Westmorland.

Speaking to BBC Radio Cumbria, Farron described the deaths, which happened where the road was a single carriageway, as "chilling".

"It's obvious what needs to happen to protect people in the future and to save lives," he added.

Farron said there would also be economic benefits to the work because it would improve connections between the M1 and the M6, linking Cumbria, North Yorkshire, the Tees Valley and Tyne and Wear.

He said at the moment traffic was being "put through this narrow bottleneck".

Earlier this year the campaign group Transport Action Network submitted a legal challenge against the project.

The group believes dualling the road would be damaging to the environment and would not deliver the promised economic benefits.

Farron said although he understood the argument and he was supportive of sustainable transport methods, this was a "missing link" in the Northern road network.

When he brought up the issue of the A66 during Prime Minister's Questions last month, Starmer said fatalities on roads was a "very serious issue", but the government was reviewing its spend and the outcome would be shared as soon as possible.

Earlier this year, Labour MP for Penrith and the Solway Marcus Campbell Savours said he would push for the project to be prioritised.

He said: "Anything that improves a safer, faster route for people to get in and out of Cumbria is hugely important for economic development, but also for the livelihoods of our local community."

The Department for Transport said it was committed to building infrastructure that would drive growth, while delivering value for money for taxpayers.

A spokesman said: "Transport is an essential part of the government’s mission to rebuild Britain and grow our economy."

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