A133-A120 Link Road

Pam Cox Excerpts

Tuesday 28th January 2025 Westminster Hall

[Sir Bernard Jenkin (Harwich and North Essex) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered Government funding for the A133-A120 link road.

Thank you very much, Mr Stringer. There may even be a third intervention from a colleague, which I hope will be all right with you. I should have notified you in advance, for which I apologise. I thank the Minister for taking part in this debate regarding the further funding of the new A1331 link road.

The top line is that central Government must fund phase 2 of this road. The previous Government committed to do so, and provided 100% grant via a housing infrastructure fund grant of £99.9 million in 2020. Since then covid and inflation have struck, and the grant is now £50 million to £60 million short of what is needed to complete the road. That estimate is hearsay and not official, but it does not seem unreasonable.

Essex county council has started the construction of phase 1 but phase 2 is not funded. The Government’s housing targets for Colchester and Tendring cannot be met without this vital new road. This development of 7,500 new homes is very substantial, but I support and understand the need for it. However, the development cannot be justified unless the road is completed in advance. Indeed, without completion of the road, the developers may well stop investing in the houses because the traffic will be intolerable and the new homes found to be unsaleable.

The proposed Tendring Colchester Borders garden community—or TCBGC—located between the A120 and the A133 north of the University of Essex, includes new primary and secondary schools, dedicated employment spaces, a nature reserve and a commitment to 30% affordable housing. The new homes will generate a huge increase in traffic. The new direct access to the A120 and the A133 is essential for the viability of the development. It will also significantly mitigate local adverse traffic impacts, both during the construction phase and as the new homes are occupied.

The whole project now hinges on phase 2, which will complete the link to the A120. Without phase 2 the A1331 will be a road to nowhere, and only add to traffic on already congested roads. There is no viable or agreed funding for phase 2. I hope I do not have to disabuse the Government of that fact. Many councillors and local people fear that phase 2 will never be completed. So far, the Government have told the county council, “There is no budget” for any additional funding.

My first question is this: will the Government please now consider making up the shortfall? I wrote to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 11 November and received a reply just last night. These debates have a purpose: they provoke a response. I am grateful for the Minister’s letter, in this case from Baroness Taylor, in which she states:

“Essex county council and Latimer (the housing developer) have committed to use reasonable endeavours to procure delivery of phase 2…And in order to safeguard its delivery, there is a planning policy requirement for the developer to demonstrate funding is in place for the full link road.”

I put it to the Minister that this really is wishful thinking. Think about it: 7,500 homes and a £60 million contribution to finish phase 2—that is £8,000 per home, and that is just for the road. Where is all the other section 106 funding required for this development going to come from?

[Pam Cox (Colchester) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stringer. I thank the hon. Member for Harwich and North Essex (Sir Bernard Jenkin) for securing the debate.

In November 2024 I had the pleasure of joining partners from Essex county council, Colchester city council, Latimer, Clarion Housing and Homes England, as well as contractors, to see the start of phase 1 of the link road. As the hon. Member rightly said, it is just phase 1, and we need phase 2 to be completed. Speeding up phase 2 by creating a deal with those partners, including the Government, will be a vital part of that. I hope he will support initiatives around that, as we have already been having those kinds of discussions. I also invite the Minister to visit the project to see just how short a link road will be required to complete what will be an outstanding development that straddles both our constituencies.

[Sir Bernard Jenkin]

The hon. Lady is clearly keener on the development than I am, but if the Government come up with some money to make this whole development viable again, I will of course resume my support for it. I would also very much welcome a visit from the Minister, but it remains to be seen whether we will get one. I am afraid that I refused to attend that event in November because I thought it was irresponsible to start a road if nobody knew how it would be funded or when it would be completed. The Minister may, in her response today, refer to a December memorandum of understanding on this matter between Essex county council, the Colchester and Tendring councils and Latimer, but I have to point out to her and to the Department that this is not a binding agreement. Paragraph 1.6 states that the funding of infrastructure, including the A1331 link road, is contingent, and that it

“will only be possible if the overall delivery of TCBGC is financially viable.”

Remember that it is £8,000 per home just for the road. TCBGC will no longer be financially viable. Financial contributions through section 106 will not be enough to cover the cost of phase 2 of the road along with all the other essential infrastructure plans for this development.

What has got to give? Will we finish up with more GP practices closing their lists and not accepting more patients, or more schools without places for local kids? Section 106 funding should be for local infrastructure, not for national infrastructure such as this proposed new A road. The clue is in the term “A road”—it is part of the trunk road network. What is the benefit-cost ratio for this new road? The original funding application said 7:1. A 7:1 benefit-cost ratio is well above the threshold of “very high”, which is only 4:1, so this public investment will give very big payback for the local economy, jobs and tax revenues.

Can the Minister provide us with a benefit-cost ration for just phase 1, which the Government have now retrospectively agreed to fund on its own? This was approved via a material amendment to the grant determination agreement that the Government have signed, allowing the county council to build just phase 1 with the grant money so far allocated. The Government agreement makes them complicit in the wishful thinking that this development will be viable. My guess is that the benefit-cost ratio for just phase 1 will be at rock bottom. It will have very little economic benefit at all, and would never have passed muster if it had been proposed as part of the funding arrangements at the outset.

Without knowing what the phase 1 benefit-cost ratio is, how could the Government possibly justify turning down the request for funding to complete the A1331 link road? I speculate that the benefit-cost ratio of finishing the road is off the scale because of the sunk costs already committed. Labour has promised growth and new homes to voters, but with infrastructure first—

Renters’ Rights Bill

Pam Cox Excerpts

Wednesday 9th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Pam Cox (Colchester) (Lab)]

I congratulate all those who have made their first speeches today. I look forward to continuing to work with them in the coming months.

I am here in this place at the pleasure of the voters of Colchester. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear!”] I’ll take that. Colchester was the very first capital of Britain. In the year 49 AD, it was the first place in the country to be given the status of Roman colonia. Unfortunately, we held that title for only a decade, before a woman from Norfolk laid waste to the city. The Romans decided that a muddy river crossing in a little place called Londinium would be a safer bet. That was almost 2,000 years before another woman from Norfolk, more precisely South West Norfolk, entered Londinium and laid waste to the British economy. We Essex folk could have warned you of the dangers. [Laughter.] On my way into this place, I often walk past the imposing statue of that first Norfolk woman, Boudica, standing proud in her chariot on the embankment, and I feel like she is spurring me on to step up to the plate as Colchester’s first woman MP.

I am an historian by training and profession, and each day that I enter this House I remember that I am only here because of the commitment and effort of the generations who came before me—women and men who valued democracy and served their communities. I come from a family dedicated to service. My mother worked in public health and my father worked as a church minister. They taught my sisters and I the values of public service, and I have promised the residents of Colchester that, as their MP, I will put those into practice.

I am also very proud to be a member of a party whose leader has pledged to lead a Government of service. Those words mean a great deal to me—they are one of the reasons why I stood to be an MP. We are here only at the pleasure of those who put us here, and our job is to serve them.

I wish to pay tribute to my predecessors. Will Quince served as Colchester’s MP for nine years. He worked very hard for his constituents and was dedicated to their wellbeing. In particular, I highlight the work he did on baby loss, a cause that still means a great deal to him. I know that he is continuing to serve in his life after Parliament, in particular as an Army specialist reserve officer.

The connection between Colchester and the Army began with the Roman legions, and it continues today in the form of 16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team, which is the British Army’s global response force and is able to respond to crises around the world at a few hours’ notice. I pay tribute to its service and bravery.

Will’s predecessor, Sir Bob Russell, was Colchester’s MP for 18 years, and he continues to serve it today as High Steward and as chief letter writer to the Colchester Gazette. No one is more passionate than Sir Bob about celebrating our city’s history, and I was proud to be at an unveiling of his most recent project, a statue celebrating the Colchester origins of the world’s most famous nursery rhyme, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”. Please come to see it, and while there you can take in the country’s oldest and longest Roman walls, its only Roman circus and one of the most impressive Norman castles, not to mention award-winning arts venues such as the Mercury theatre, Firstsite gallery and Colchester Arts Centre. On that matter, forget the hype around Oasis—Colchester Arts Centre and Stanway school together honed the rare talent of Blur. I am sure that sentiment is shared by the right hon. Member for Witham (Priti Patel), my constituency neighbour.

I would also like to recall one other predecessor, Charles Smith, who is the only other Labour MP in Colchester’s history. He was elected 79 years before me, almost to the day. Charles Smith, later Lord Delacourt-Smith, was part of that great reforming Government of 1945 that gave us the national health service, national parks, new towns and so much more. Now that was a Government of service. They took office after years of destruction, with the country in mourning, debt and crisis, yet they still generated hope, took action and laid the foundations for a brighter future for us all. We have a lot to learn from them.

I am very proud to speak in this debate on a bold Bill, which is in that spirit. It will bring much-needed change to our housing sector and uphold the rights of thousands of tenants to live in the decent homes that they deserve. The case for the Bill has been eloquently set out by the Deputy Prime Minister, the Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, and other speakers.

I am not a career politician. I have spent most of my life researching, teaching and leading in higher education, much of it at the outstanding University of Essex. I worked in social history and social sciences. It is my firm belief that only by understanding what has worked and what has mattered in the past can we hope to build a better future. I have written about the history of work, criminal justice, social care and education. I have used that knowledge to help to lead present-day policy change in youth services, family courts, women’s employment and victims’ rights. There is a red thread running through my work, which has traced how modes of governing have changed over time and how we have come to govern in the name of freedom with the aim of enabling people to truly flourish. If our country is to flourish, everyone must have the opportunity to thrive. We need decent public services that give everyone the best start in life and support us through to life’s end. That is a collective endeavour.

Colchester has been a wonderful home to me and my family. I stood for election first as a city councillor and then as an MP because I wanted to give back to that community that has given us so much. I thank my fantastic family and all the local campaigners who have been a brilliant support to me over the past few months and more. Old habits die hard: Members will be relieved to hear that I have resisted the temptation to circulate a reading list to go with this lecture, or speech, or to speak for my customary 50 minutes—Madam Deputy Speaker is looking at me. I am looking forward to working as hard as I can for those who have sent me here: the people of Colchester.