'Little credibility' for new council delivery plan with no mention of A46 Stoneleigh junction or K2L

By James Smith 8th Mar 2025

The A46 Stoneleigh Junction project is two years behind schedule and already over budget (image via WCC)
The A46 Stoneleigh Junction project is two years behind schedule and already over budget (image via WCC)

The new council delivery plan for Warwickshire County Council will have "little credibility" with residents as it does not address the continued delays to the new A46 Stoneleigh Junction nor to the Kenilworth to Leamington (K2L) cycleway.

That was the opinion of a district councillor at this week's county cabinet meeting where the document which sets out what the local authority will do over the next two years was approved.

Speaking at the meeting on Thursday (March 6) Cllr Richard Dickson said the delivery plan needed to answer questions on when the over-budget new junction will be built, and how the K2L project will progress.

"It seems to me that if it's not to be a plan that just gets signed off and then sits on the shelf, the cabinet need to be ambitious enough to include reference in the plan to the 'bridge to nowhere' and to K2L," the Liberal Democrat councillor said.

"A council delivery plan that doesn't mention these two major community projects will, I fear, have little credibility. 

"It risks being a plan that has little hope of creating a better future in Warwickshire. 

"And, worst of all, I fear it will be a plan that few people in our communities will trust anyone to deliver."

But in response council leader Cllr Izzi Seccombe explained the scope of the document was not to pinpoint specific projects, but to create an overarching plan for Warwickshire County Council's next two years.

"This is a very high level delivery plan for the council, it doesn't actually have specific projects identified within that," she said. 

"Under each of these high levels, there is a departmental one [plan] and within those you will those delivery projects that sit there. 

"So at this point none of them are in there. 

"At this point you would not have seen individual school projects or indeed things like property projects, which we have got a number of those schemes, and they are big schemes.

"So that is the nature of this one. 

"But we do take on your comments and the principals are what this paper is about."

Later on in the meeting Cllr John Holland said the decision on the plan should be delayed until after the May 2025 elections, and also said the K2L and A46 projects should be specifically referenced.

His calls fell on deaf ears though as the Conservative-led cabinet unanimously approved the rolling two-year plan.

Proposing the document, Cllr Yousef Dahmash explained: "It is not something that delves into the detail of every project that we are doing. 

"It is something that is designed to be manageable and readable for our members of this council, for our partners and especially for our residents, so they can see what we are looking to do and what we are looking to deliver against the priorities we have set as a council."

Meanwhile deputy leader Cllr Peter Butlin added: "Bearing in mind at any one time there are 80 capital projects in progress across the county, you cannot put them all into this. 

"There are separate routes where you can look at capital projects. 

"This is about the ground rules. It would be inappropriate to itemise all the projects here."

A statement from the council released after the meeting said the delivery plan sets out "trackable actions" and aims to "provide transparency and accountability" for the local authority's priorities.

     

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