Road_Invesment_Strat...
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The Department of Transport (DfT) has announced details of the Road Investment Strategy 2026-2031 (The Strategy can be viewed at the foot of the post). There are no schemes announced that affect Guildford so improvements such as new slip roads on the A3 south of Ripley and changes to improve the A3 through Guildford appear stalled and/or shelved.
The Local Plan approved in 2019 was predicated on A3 Improvements which have failed to materialise with the exception of the Junction10 A3/M25 Junction.
As part of the RIS the announcement DfT is also claiming that:-
‘thousands of new homes and jobs are set to be unlocked as the government launches a new £165 million fund to remove the barriers holding back housing and key growth developments across England’. The new Growth and Housing Accelerator Fund will target sites where progress has stalled due to funding constraints, delivering the transport improvements and links needed to get building started.
The new Growth and Housing Accelerator Fund will bridge the funding gap for critical transport works to unblock and accelerate the delivery of housing and employment sites.
It will focus on locations on or near to motorways and A-roads across England, ensuring communities can benefit from new homes and the jobs and opportunities that come with them.
National Highways will invite local authorities in the coming weeks to register developments for consideration and publish a rolling programme of funded schemes from the end of 2026/27. This might be an opportunity for Guildford to, for example, access funds to improve access to the Strategic Sites at Gosden Hill or Blackwell Farm – but £165M across the country is in practice very little funding.
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