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A14/A45 (North Northamptonshire)

That is a perfectly valid concern and I will come on to it. Nevertheless, even allowing for the very significant housing growth planned for the area, we are still left with an accounting sheet with a balance of money that will not be added to by the present Government or any hypothetical future Conservative Government. Therefore, priorities have to be decided on and if one scheme goes into a different column, another scheme has to come out of that column. I understand the campaign that the hon. Gentleman is pursuing and it is perfectly understandable that he should do so. I am simply reminding him that money is not limitless and that no party is suggesting that that money will be added to. Therefore, serious decisions have to be taken, if not by him, certainly by the regional transport board, which is responsible for drawing up the priorities. I hope that I can get most of my comments out of the way before the end of the debate, but of course I am happy to write to the hon. Gentlemen if I do not deal with some issues. I am aware that the hon. Member for Wellingborough participated in the recent Adjournment debate secured by the hon. Member for Kettering about consultation on housing developments and that he emphasised the link between developments and infrastructure. He will not be surprised this afternoon to hear me echo the points made by the Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, my hon. Friend the Member for Hartlepool (Mr. Wright), in closing that debate. Housing growth is one of the Government's top three priorities, alongside education and health. We are building homes to meet the aspirations of this and future generations. We are proud of that; it is the right thing to do; and we make no apology for it. Housing supply has not kept pace with demand over decades, and affordability has worsened as a consequence. Since 2001, housing growth numbers nationally have increased for new build by about 40 per cent. to about 185,000 homes every year. However, we need to do more, which is why my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister set a new target of delivering 240,000 homes a year by 2016. Of course, I recognise the provision of infrastructure as critical to the delivery of the Government targets for housing growth, not just to help to unlock the growth that we need, but to develop the sustainable communities that we all want. The importance of transport in accommodating growth is beyond doubt. I certainly do not dispute that. Between 2001 and 2021, 101,000 new homes are planned to be built in Northamptonshire, with about 52,000 of those in north Northamptonshire; a rate of 2,600 completions a year on average. In addition to housing growth, the East Midlands regional spatial strategy sets a goal of 43,800 new jobs in north Northamptonshire by 2021. Clearly, those growth projections present significant challenges for transport, particularly the road network focused on the A14 and A45 trunk roads. The two-lane dual carriageway A14 runs immediately south of Kettering and north of Wellingborough. It forms part of the trans-European network, linking the west midlands, M6, M1 and A1 with the container port of Felixstowe, and consequently it carries a large proportion of heavy goods vehicles. It also acts as a bypass for Kettering, which is one of its most congested sections, carrying 70,000 vehicles every day. The Kettering section has closely spaced junctions with other major road corridors, some of which share parts of the A14. Consequently, much of the congestion on the A14 round Kettering is caused by local traffic ““junction hopping””. That section also has an above average number of accidents, as the hon. Member for Wellingborough said. The A45 trunk road is an important and busy south-west to north-east link between the M1 at Northampton and the A14 at Thrapston. Between the M1 and Stanwick, the A45 is a two-lane dual carriageway. Between Stanwick and the A14, it reverts to a single carriageway. Let me make it clear that the Government are committed to ensuring that housing growth is accompanied by the infrastructure needed to deliver sustainable development at local level. However, I must stress that it is not necessary to provide that infrastructure in advance of the growth. It is necessary to ensure that the infrastructure goes with the growth, which is what we are doing. As the hon. Gentleman will know, north Northamptonshire has been the focus of considerable ministerial activity to that end. My hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet (Dr. Ladyman), when he was a Transport Minister, had a number of meetings with local partners to discuss the growth and infrastructure, and more recently my right hon. Friend the Minister of State, Department for Transport, visited the area to discuss the position. Those meetings have proved extremely valuable in progressing matters. Since 2003, the Government have invested substantially in growth areas and growth points. Northamptonshire has been allocated more than £150 million in growth area funding. The hon. Gentleman's portrayal of his constituency suggests that it is one of the poorest areas of the country and that it has been very hard done by when it comes to central Government spending. I suggest to him that that is not entirely accurate. My Department has provided £8 million of funding for the ““Getting Northampton to Work”” programme and is supporting the reinstatement of passenger rail services at Corby. We have invested £84 million in Northamptonshire through the local transport plan process over the past five years. In addition, we have approved schemes worth more than £21 million under round 1 of the community infrastructure fund. Those include the Corby northern orbital road and the Wilby Way roundabout improvement. The A509 Isham bypass and the Corby link road are already included in our approved programme of major schemes, and the A509 Isham to Wellingborough improvement scheme is being considered for programme entry by the Department. There are also a number of schemes in the county that are the subject of expressions of interest for funding under round 2 of the community infrastructure fund. Of course, investment alone will not provide sustainable communities. The emphasis must be on working with local and regional partners to ensure that policies and delivery plans are properly joined. To that end, we are working closely with the North Northants Development Company and its stakeholders to agree a package of interventions to deliver the planned growth in north Northamptonshire without compromising the trunk road and local road network. However, I would not like to give the impression that we have only recently turned our attention to addressing the problems on the A14. Following the report of the London to south midlands multi-modal study in 2003, the then Secretary of State instructed the Highways Agency to work up a scheme to widen the Kettering bypass. A number of different options were assessed, but that work did not result in a viable solution being identified on either affordability or value for money grounds. When that became apparent, the Department for Transport, the Department for Communities and Local Government, the Highways Agency, the Government office for the east midlands, Northamptonshire county council and other stakeholders formed a joint working steering group led by the North Northants Development Company. The group's brief was to develop and agree a package of interventions to deliver the planned growth in north Northants without compromising that growth or the A14 and the local road network.