A63 Castle Street in Hull to get £160m upgrade

The work to upgrade the road is expected to start in during the next parliament

A £160m scheme to upgrade the A63 Castle Street in Hull has been announced by the government.

Treasury chief secretary Danny Alexander revealed the plan to upgrade the section as part of the "biggest investment in roads in 40 years".

While Hull City Council said it was "delighted", one of the city's Labour MPs took a different view.

Diane Johnson, Labour MP for Hull North, said the post-2015 scheme was "jam tomorrow, but jams today".

Mr Alexander told the House of Commons on Thursday the A63 scheme was part of a package of road improvements to be rolled out in the next parliament.

City regeneration

A campaign to upgrade the road has been under way for several years with Hull and Humber Chamber of Trade saying in 2011 it was a "hugely important we get this sorted, it's a critical road in and out of Hull and without it being improved we'll really struggle to get any serious development going."

After the announcement Hull City Council said: "We are delighted with today's news and we can now move forward with the Highways Agency to improve this important road.

"It will make a huge difference to the economy, local businesses, regeneration of the city as well as helping our aims to improve the city as a visitor destination.

"The announcement will also support Hull's City Plan and to help harness all Hull's assets to become the leading UK Energy City."

But MP Ms Johnson dismissed the announcement as "more news management than traffic management".

Ms Johnson said: "Ministers have announced that the A63 improvement works would only start 'post-2015' - that's no earlier than has been planned in Whitehall for years.

"This is jam tomorrow, but jams today for Hull.

"I'm relieved that the A63 scheme's not been put back further.

"However, given this coalition's record of cancelling or delaying capital schemes that have been announced previously, especially in the north, our campaign for the A63 upgrade should not end today."