Soaring costs result in cancellation of "vital" Scheme.
Soaring cost pressures have meant that plans to build a new road linking the M6 with south Lancaster have been shelved.
The decision represents another major setback for beleaguered contractor Costain who were appointed to deliver detailed design.
A spokesperson for Costain said:
“We have been advising Lancashire County Council on their scheme in the face of funding and global inflationary pressures. We were contracted to work on a consultancy basis and so the Council’s decision to suspend the scheme will have no material impact on Costain or our future order-book.”
The decision is another major setback to Costain's Highways division which has recently seen the shelving of the £1.3bn A66 Northern Trans-Pennine upgrade project , as well as the 19-mile central reserve replacement project along the M62 over soaring costs.
It is also understood National Highways have also instructed Costain to now prepare to deliver its planned £1bn-£1.3bn A12 upgrade around Colchester as a joint venture rather than as sole main contractor as originally planned .
Funding for the M6 road scheme was scheduled to be part of wider programme of supporting infrastructure included £140m from the government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund.
This will now be returned to the Government. Aidy Riggott, cabinet member at Lancashire county council, said: “We’ve been working hard to try and deliver these transport and community improvements, and unlock access to the proposed Garden Village, but we’re not able to continue with the proposals in their current form. “In particular, we’re faced with rising costs due to inflation, which would have affected how we can deliver these improvements within the current plans.”
Comentarios