New Conservative Secretary of State for Transport Justine Greening has announced that money will be made available to investigate improvements to the blighted A14 corridor. Progress on the issue has been driven by Conservative-led Cambridgeshire County Council.

The DfT will fund the first two stages of a new A14 survey with the first phase, will see experts reviewing the problems and challenges surrounding the A14 corridor, due to be completed by Christmas. The second stage will look at what solutions, including rail freight and public transport as well as road measures, could meet these challenges.

A previous £1.4 billion A14 improvement scheme was abandoned last year following opposition from Cambridge Liberal Democrats including MP Julian Huppert, despite the unanimous backing of local Conservative councils and MPs for the scheme.

Cambridgeshire County Council Leader Nick Clarke, said: “Addressing the transport problems along the A14 corridor is a top priority for this council. From the point when the Government announced they did not have the funding for the original scheme we have been campaigning for action on these issues, and made sure Cambridgeshire and our partners have been able to have a say.”