Councillors make renewed calls to dual A1

Plans to widen the A1 in Northumberland were scrapped last year

Councillors have made renewed calls to reverse a government decision to widen a "dangerous" single carriageway main road.

Plans to dual the A1 in Northumberland were scrapped in 2024 after the Department for Transport deemed it "unfunded and unaffordable".

But speaking at Northumberland County Council meeting on Wednesday, Liberal Democrat councillor Isabel Hunter said the road needed to be dualled as it was getting shut on an "almost a weekly basis" due to accidents.

Data from the North East Transport Analysis Data Unit, which is funded by the five Tyne and Wear councils, suggests there have been 26 casualties on the road so far this year.

The figures also reveal that in 10 of these casualties were left in serious condition and one person was killed, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Hunter said: "We're not particularly bothered which party does it, we just want the road dualled."

Conservative council leader Glen Sanderson said it was a "fundamental need" to have a "strong spine" between Northumberland and Scotland.

"The fact that we don't have that, the fact that we have a dangerous road… and the fact that it has cost people their lives makes it an appalling decision," he said.

"The A1 must be dualled, there's no question about it."

Councillors said the current road was dangerous and regularly shut through accidents

The previous Conservative government gave the green light to dualling the 13-mile (20km) stretch between Morpeth and Ellingham in May 2024, having previously postponed it three times.

But Labour scrapped the scheme when it came into power in October 2024.

Projections suggested the project would have cost more than £500m.