A12 Chelmsford to A120 Widening Targeted Design Consultation April 2023

Overview

Investing in your roads

At National Highways, we believe in a connected country where our network makes these connections happen. Our roads link with railway stations, ports and airports to give people a choice of travel and to support interconnectivity. When it comes to getting people where they need to be, we provide three times more miles per person than the railways.

The east of England has 650 miles of motorways and A-roads that supports a growing and vital economy. We recognise that the region contains a mixture of high-tech business and housing growth closer to London, alongside areas of scenic rural fenland, coastal towns and ports. In contrast to the region’s towns closer to London, three-quarters of land in rural East Anglia is used for farming to help feed the nation, and the area also remains a traditional holiday destination.

In addition, we’re also helping UK businesses thrive, furthering the nation’s economic growth through better connections to international hubs. England’s east region has established links to energy production, and now has ambitions to become the UK’s foremost energy coast. There are also major ports in the east region (including Felixstowe, Britain’s busiest, which handles nearly half of all shipping containers) and four airports. To support this, in the last five years we’ve improved 244 miles of roads in the east region which are prone to congestion, as well as upgrading existing A-roads and building new ones to better connect the more rural communities and commerce.

About the scheme

The A12 Chelmsford to A120 Widening scheme is identified within the Road Investment Strategy 2 (RIS2): 2020 to 2025  and Preparing the third road investment strategy  that we are currently working to deliver which states that England’s Strategic Road Network requires upgrading and improving to ensure it can deliver the performance needed to support the nation in the 21st century.

The A12 road is an important economic link in Essex and across the east of England. It provides the main south-west/north-east route through Essex and Suffolk, connecting Ipswich to London and to the M25. In addition, the A12 is an important commuter route between Chelmsford and Colchester however current congestion often leads to delays that results in a driver’s average speed during the morning commute is particularly slow in both directions for a dual carriageway A-road of its kind. 

The section between Chelmsford and Colchester (junction 19 Boreham Interchange to junction 25 Marks Tey Interchange) carries high volumes of traffic, with up to 90,000 vehicles every day. Heavy goods vehicles are between 9% and 12% of the traffic on this section due to its important freight connection, especially to Felixstowe and Harwich ports.

Our proposed improvements to this stretch of the A12 road aims to:

• improve safety for road users, especially at the junctions and slip roads through better design while also removing the current direct private accesses onto the A12
• reduce traffic congestion by increasing the capacity of the road, making journey times more reliable. The proposed scheme will save motorists as much as 1.5 hours in a working week if they travel daily between junctions19 and 25
• take long-distance traffic off the local roads and put it back onto the A12 where it belongs, so that local roads aren’t used as rat runs, affecting local villages and their communities
• ensure that the road can cope with the predicted increase in traffic from more jobs and homes in the area
• make improvements for walkers, cyclists, horse riders and public transport users, to give them better connections and safer, more enjoyable journeys.

Why we are consulting again

As part of the detailed development of the proposed scheme we have undertaken several consultations which have informed the design that we submitted to the Planning Inspectorate as an application for Development Consent Order (DCO) on 15 August 2022.  Our proposals were accepted by the Examining Authority on 12 September 2022. Information regarding activity in the period leading up to DCO submission can be found on the A12 Chelmsford to A120 widening scheme website. 

We are currently in the examination period which launched in January 2023. The examination can take up to six months, following which the Examining Authority has three months to report to the Secretary of State. They will then have a further three months to make their decision. If the project is approved, construction will start in 2024.

As part of our ongoing scheme development, we have identified proposed design changes which we would like your views on.  There are six proposed design changes. These are detailed below in The Proposed Changes.
For more information on our previous consultation results and Preferred Route Announcement, please visit our scheme webpage at www.nationalhighways.co.uk/A12.
 

Why your views matter

We are proposing to make six changes to the DCO application. We want your feedback to help us improve our DCO submission:

The proposed changes

Junction 19 Slip Road

The new design has the northbound slip road for traffic from the Beaulieu Park distributor road joining the A12 directly via its own slip road. This will be far enough from the existing slip road to ensure that overall the new design will improve safety for road users. There are no changes to the arrangement for walkers, cyclists or horse riders. 

Anglian Water Pumping Station (Bury Lane, Hatfield Peverel)

To facilitate the implementation of the approved planning application we are now removing a small section of ecological mitigation. As the project was above the requirements for reptile habitat creation in the DCO application, we do not need to replace this small loss of habitat.
The area of ecological mitigation lost decreases the reptile mitigation across the scheme by 0.4%, the impact of which is negligible to the overall mitigation being provided.

Replacement Land South of Witham

The map shows land which will be provided to the Town Council to replace two areas of land being lost as part of the proposed scheme. The land is close to Whetmead Nature Reserve and surrounds the proposed drainage pond.

B1023 Flood Mitigation and Drainage

As a result of new information available to the project, such as from site surveys and investigations, we are now able to present an updated design for the drainage ponds and flood mitigation areas alongside the B1023. 

B1023 Roundabout Design

We are proposing to remove the segregated left turn lane from the arrangement of the B1023 roundabout. Traffic from Inworth village will instead join the link road to Junction 24 via the B1023 roundabout. This will require traffic to give way to traffic already on the roundabout, as is the case with most roundabouts.

Junction 25

Our new proposals see the Old Rectory roundabout retained, which will become a partially signalised roundabout. This will use the existing infrastructure in the design and minimise tree loss within the Old Rectory roundabout island.

For further information on all the of the above proposed changes, please refer to the 'Related documents' section at the bottom of this page, where you will find all the consultation materials. 

How to have your say

Responding to this consultation

We are proposing to make six changes to the DCO application. The public consultation on these proposals runs between Thursday 13 April and Sunday 14 May 2023. If you would like to take part, please provide your comments by 11:59pm on Sunday 14 May in one of the following ways:
•    Online via this website
•    Email your response to A12chelmsfordA120wide@nationalhighways.co.uk
•    Write to us at FREEPOST A12 WIDENING

Documents can be viewed online, free of charge, at the locations listed in the table below. You may need a form of identification to register as a library member to use the computer.
Please note: the opening hours and availability of information technology is subject to change. There are facilities to print documents if needed, but there may be a charge.

Webinars

We’re also holding the following online sessions where the project team will explain the changes and you will be able to ask questions.

You can also get in touch with our project team at A12chelmsfordA120wide@nationalhighways.co.uk or by calling 0300 123 5000.

We have an accessible audio version of the consultation brochure created by the Chelmsford Talking Newspaper - please see the link above or at the bottom of this page.

If you require an accessible version of the materials, please ask.

What happens next

• Our supplementary consultation closes at 11.59pm on Sunday 14 May 2023
• All responses will be analysed. We will produce a report of these responses and the proposed scheme’s position on them. This will be submitted as part of the request to the Planning Inspectorate to accept, as part of our DCO application, those changes we still wish to proceed with. If those changes are accepted there will be opportunities for the detail of each proposed change to be considered and for all interested parties to make representations about them as part of the ongoing examination of the DCO application
• We are currently in the examination period, which began in January 2023. The examination can take up to six months following which the Planning Inspectorate has three months to make a recommendation to the Secretary of State, who then has a further three months to make their decision. If the the DCO is granted, construction is proposed to start in 2024
• The Planning Inspectorate’s website provides updates on the DCO process.

Keep in touch

You can contact us by email on A12chelmsfordA120wide@nationalhighways.co.uk or call us on 0300 123 5000.
For more information on the A12 Chelmsford to A120 Widening please visit our website: www.nationalhighways.co.uk/A12
 

What happens next

• Our consultation closed at 11.59pm on Sunday 14 May 2023
• All responses will be analysed. We will produce a report of these responses and the proposed scheme’s position on them. This will be submitted as part of the request to the Planning Inspectorate to accept, as part of our DCO application, those changes we still wish to proceed with. If those changes are accepted there will be opportunities for the detail of each proposed change to be considered and for all interested parties to make representations about them as part of the ongoing examination of the DCO application
• The Planning Inspectorate's examination period launched in January 2023. The examination can take up to six months following which the Inspectorate has three months to make a recommendation to the Secretary of State, who then has a further three months to make their decision. If the project is approved, construction is proposed to start in 2024
• The Planning Inspectorate’s website will provide updates on the DCO application process.