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The government has confirmed that the HS2 route from the West Midlands to Crewe is set to open six years earlier than originally planned. The final decision on the route, which starts in Fradley, Staffordshire, was announced yesterday (30th November). It is now intended that the line will open in 2027 instead of 2033.

Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin issued safeguarding directions for Phase 2a of HS2 as part of the announcement. The safeguarding directions will affect future planning decisions on land close to the route.

Mount Anvil opened their show-suite at their Keybridge development in Lambeth yesterday. Looks like it will be a stunning property when it is completed.

http://www.mountanvil.com/keybridge

Highways England today met with suppliers and stakeholders to set out how £2 billion of government investment to improve the capacity of roads in the South West will be delivered between now and 2021. A list of the schemes is included on the CILT news page http://ciltuk.org.uk/News/South-West-roads-plan.

This week’s appointment of Lord Adonis, the former Labour Transport Secretary, to chair a new National Infrastructure Commission has broadly been welcomed by sector commentators but there are concerns that the commission may become little more than a talking shop and fail to deliver major projects swiftly.

Lord Adonis said: “Without big improvements to its transport and energy systems, Britain will grind to a halt. Major infrastructure projects like Crossrail span governments and parliaments. I hope it will be possible to forge a wide measure of agreement, across society and politics, on key infrastructure requirements for the next 20 to 30 years.”

The new commission demonstrates that transport infrastructure is recognised by Government as vital to UK economic growth. However, the next step must be development of a National Transport Strategy.

Planning permission was granted last night for a new Aldi store at Weyhill Road, Andover. Congratulations to Aldi, and well done team!

Entran were pleased to be part of the team that secured planning permission for a 3,000sqm mixed retail site in Farringdon. Highway improvement works include a new right-turn lane access, a footway/cycleway through the site, a new bus stop and a Toucan crossing.