Junction to nowhere still two years off opening

THE £50 million M49 junction-tonowhere is still two years away from opening – a whole five years after it was built, according to metro mayor Dan Norris.

Mr Norris says he is “absolutely furious” at the “colossal mistake” between officials at South Gloucestershire Council and National Highways – formerly Highways England – that has left the dead-end motorway roundabout near Avonmouth, completed in 2019, unconnected to the local road network.

But despite the Labour regional mayor providing a timescale for the saga to be finally resolved, the council says it cannot confirm a programme of work because it is “technically complex” and the “best engineering solutions” still need to be decided.

It says that to build the link road, it “needs to obtain privately owned land” and that it is working on this while designing the highway.

Mr Norris also revealed that £1 million allocated last February by the West of England Combined Authority (Weca), which he now heads, to try to resolve a land dispute that has left the link road unfinished was done so “incorrectly” by his predecessor, Conservative Tim Bowles.

Speaking on BBC Radio Bristol the West of England mayor said: “It was the previous mayor who said he would make £1 million available but it wasn’t in his powers, to be honest, so that was incorrect.”

He said South Gloucestershire Council’s Tory leader Cllr Toby Savage had shared some of the details with him in confidence.

But Mr Norris said £50 million spent on a junction next to a business distribution park, including Amazon, Tesco and Lidl, that did not actually connect to it was “nonsensical”.

The metro mayor said: “Isn’t it terrible for our region that we have all this infrastructure expenditure and for want of a decent bit of foresight and planning we don’t have a motorway junction that could work and alleviate those pressures on local communities around that area? Terrible.

“I am absolutely furious about it. I have made that very clear to the people I’ve spoken to, but pinning down who is actually responsible is impossible.”

Asked when the junction was finally likely to open, he said: “There is a date, and I think it’s within the next couple of years.”

A South Gloucestershire Council spokesperson said: “In order to build the link, we need to obtain privately owned land and are currently working on this while progressing with the design of the new road.

“We are not able to confirm a programme of work at present, as the scheme is technically complex and the best engineering solutions need to be determined.”