{"id":4553,"date":"2025-07-09T16:29:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T16:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/?p=4553"},"modified":"2026-02-17T22:15:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T22:15:58","slug":"a12-widening-scheme-cancellation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/?p=4553","title":{"rendered":"A12 Widening Scheme Cancellation"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"4553\" class=\"elementor elementor-4553\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3a93d347 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"3a93d347\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1668b30d elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"1668b30d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<p>Sir John Whittingdale, MP for Maldon, was disappointed to learn of the Government\u2019s decision to cancel the A12 Chelmsford to A120 Scheme, calling it a \u201cbody-blow to plans for growth and development in mid-Essex.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>This announcement comes after the Government\u2019s Spending Review, and was communicated to Sir John via a letter from Lilian Greenwood MP, Transport Minister, sent to Essex MPs.<\/p>\n\n<p>The infrastructure project \u2014 planned with funds identified by the previous Conservative Government \u2014 would free up congestion hotspots and capacity constraints in mid-Essex and facilitate the planned growth of new homes and jobs over the next twenty years. Sir John has described the Government\u2019s decision to cancel this scheme as one that \u201cundermines the Chelmsford Local Plan, jeopardising plans for 11,000 new homes and around 4,000 new jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>The Minister has said she recognises that this announcement will come as a disappointment to local communities and is \u201cconscious of local housing needs\u201d. Additionally, she has indicated that despite the decision, the government is supposedly committed to developing transport infrastructure across the country.<\/p>\n\n<p>Following the decision Sir John has said &#8220;The Government cannot now expect local authorities in mid-Essex to accept the imposition of a huge number of new houses while at the same time failing to fund the supporting infrastructure that they require.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>See below for the Transport Minister\u2019s Letter to Essex MPs.<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4554\" src=\"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/A12page1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"591\" height=\"839\" class=\"wp-image-4555\" src=\"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/A12page2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/A12page2.jpeg 591w, https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/A12page2-211x300.jpeg 211w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 591px) 100vw, 591px\" \/><\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Criticism of the decision to cancel the A12 Chelmsford\u2013A120 scheme, warning it risks worsening congestion and undermining plans for housing, jobs and growth across mid-Essex.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4554,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_header_footer","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4553"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5338,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4553\/revisions\/5338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}