[Simon Jupp is Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Transport, Mark Harper.]

From a correspondent: 

Devon County Council announced in January 2023 that they had secured funding through the Government Levelling up Fund for the extension to Dinan Way in Exmouth and investment in the Exmouth Gateway.  According to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which accompanies the bid, Devon County Council has to complete the works for the projects by March 2025. The bidding process started in 2021 when councils were dealing with the fallout of the pandemic to local services, so the work necessary to meet the strict deadlines for the bid process has imposed heavy demands on DCC staff and elected officials

Furthermore, the MOU also sets out very precise requirements for full consultation with residents, stakeholders and the district and town councils, without which the funding will be withheld. Full and meaningful consultation has not happened to the satisfaction of these parties.   The level of consultation has been woefully inadequate.   However, it is difficult to see how DCC can fulfil all these obligations within such a short timescale.  Council staff numbers have been cut back to the bone and DCC will struggle to ensure that the consultation requirements set out in the Government MOU can be met and the bid signed off in time to complete the project.

Compare these rigid delivery timescales with national government infrastructure projects.  In 2009 the original cost of HS2 was set at £37.5 billion.  By July 2023 the total project cost was estimated to reach £106.6 bn. The deadline for completion of 2033 has now been pushed to as late 2041 with large parts of the project being abandoned altogether.  Likewise the Prince of Wales aircraft carrier finally set off a year late in August 2023 at an increased cost of £3.2 bn. from £3 bn.

Why are the project deadlines so rigid for local councils when government projects deadlines and costs are so flexible? Once the work is completed on the Exmouth Gateway, the MOU prohibits any change for at least ten years.  It is not acceptable to impose an ‘enhancement project’ which could create traffic chaos and ultimately fail to deliver real improvements to the Gateway which cannot be changed for many years on the residents, businesses and visitors to Exmouth.

If Devon County Council could be given the time to undertake meaningful public consultations and adapt their plans to ensure best value for the project spend, this would  ensure far better use of government and local taxpayers’ money.  Perhaps our local MP who has been so involved in the LUF bid can intervene on Exmouth residents’ behalf and get these unrealistic and ultimately damaging deadlines removed.