A bypass for traffic heading in and out of the Lake District was given the go-ahead last week.
Approval was given, despite a £13M cost increase over three years and the route being in the Lake District National Park.
The cost of the A590 High and Low Newton bypass – estimated to cost £22M in 2003 – has now risen to £35M while the Department for Transport decided on the funding, leading to fears that it would be scrapped.
But the department has now said it would cover the rise in costs of the 3.8km dual carriageway. It claimed it would prevent an estimated eight fatal, 47 serious and 277 slight injury accidents over the next 30 years. ~Cumbria County Council~ leader, Cllr Rex Toft, had written to former roads minister, David Jamieson, in 2003, urging him to visit the region and laying the case for the bypass.
Toft said it was a ‘long-standing priority’ to dual the A590 throughout its length, in an effort to regenerate the redundancy-hit Barrow and Furness peninsular.
There was vociferous opposition from environmental campaigners, who claimed that alternatives to the proposed route should have been given more attention before the DfT allowed it to be built through a national park. There were also accusations of inconsistency when transport secretary, Alastair Darling, rejected four other roads in areas of outstanding natural beauty in 2003.
But, the DfT agreed to allow the construction, despite the fact it would cut into the national park, because the scheme was a ‘special case’.
A spokesman said: ‘We generally do not favour new roads in national parks. This will not set a precedent for roads in other designated areas.’
The DfT also explained the new bypass would bring considerable safety improvements, as well as better quality of life for the villagers of High and Low Newton and Ayside, by removing more than 90% of traffic through their streets.