New mile-long dual carriageway will cost £147m

Buckinghamshire Council hoped the new road would help ease congestion in Aylesbury

A new mile-long dual carriageway is set to be built at a cost of £147m.

Buckinghamshire Council agreed to additional costs associated with the South East Aylesbury Link Road (SEALR) which would open in 2026.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, cabinet members backed proposals to spend an additional £33m, on top of the previous budget of £114m, to allow for construction inflation and pandemic delay costs.

Conservative council leader Martin Tett said the new road would allow traffic to "bypass the town centre" which could be "horrendous" to drive through.

'Massive importance within Aylesbury'

The 1.1 mile (1.7 kilometre) dual carriageway would be connected by three roundabouts to form a key part of the Aylesbury Orbital Link Road.

The SEALR would join the A413 Wendover Road, the B4443 Lower Road and the Stoke Mandeville Relief Road – currently under construction by HS2.

The road would be built in two phases – the second of which would be completed by December 2024 and the first in 2026.

Mr Tett said the road "is of massive importance within Aylesbury".

He claimed the road would help reduce congestion in the town which was frequently hit with bad traffic jams and was predicted to grow with more than 16,000 new homes planned.

He said: “Anyone who drives into Aylesbury regularly, as I do, will know that in the morning and evening it is horrendous to get in and out of Aylesbury.

“Every road virtually leads to the centre of the town and out again. This road will enable lots of the through traffic in particular to bypass the town centre.”

Funding for SEALR comes from several sources, including the council, HS2, the Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership, Department for Transport, Homes England and section 106 contributions.

The cabinet member for transport, councillor Steve Broadbent, admitted there had been several “difficulties” with the project, such as taking possession of the railway line to build a bridge and relocating Thames Water mains.

He added: “None of that is simple, nor is it cheap to do.”

Some costs that were in the first phase of SEALR have also been reallocated into the second phase of the project.