Major Nottinghamshire road improvement scheme could cost more than £47m
Long-awaited works to improve two key Nottinghamshire routes could see costs increase to more than £47m, according to county council documents.
The major multi-million-pound project to improve five junctions across the A614 and A6097 was given approval by the Government in September 2025 after a delay.
Improvements to the junctions on the A614/A6097 corridor was first proposed in 2019, with councillors having called for the changes for more than 20 years.
But funding for the scheme was placed under review by the Labour Government after the General Election last year.
It had been given planning consent in September 2022 and work was supposed to have started in 2023.
As of February, the total cost for the scheme was £41,761,760 which would be covered by £24.3m from the Department for Transport (DfT), £8.3m from Nottinghamshire Council, £1.7m from developer contributions and £7.3m from the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA).
But now documents released ahead of the county council’s cabinet meeting on December 18 show an increase in the cost estimate due to inflation and risk mitigations.
Papers say the latest estimated cost for the junction improvements due to the government delay and inflation now sits at £43,734,208 but this could rise to £47,102,691 when factoring in unknown risks such as flooding and utility diversion works.
In covering this increased cost, and the potential for a further rise to more than £47m, funding from the Government and council remains unchanged, the original money from the developer contributions is now listed as a ‘minimum of’ and EMCCA is set to contribute up to a maximum of £12,670,672.
Documents say: “The council has been in discussions with EMCCA since the project was formally confirmed by the Government and EMCCA has agreed to underwrite some of the delivery risk.
“This presents a need to provide a cost envelope with a higher figure that EMCCA have confirmed via a letter of comfort that they will underwrite, final EMCCA approval for this allocation is due early in 2026.”
The scheme is set to start in early 2026 pending on securing agreement from all funders.
Once preliminary works are completed, road improvements can start with the White Post Roundabout and Warren Hill junctions in June/August 2026 with the enabling works and the building of site compounds at Ollerton, Lowdham and Kirk Hill starting from September 2026.
At Ollerton roundabout, the road will be widened to provide two entry lanes to the roundabout to increase capacity.
Two toucan crossings will also be installed and these works are due to finish by the end of 2028.
Documents say: “During this time, it is expected that there will be significant delays due to temporary traffic lights and road closures.
"While disruptions will be kept at a minimum, this has to be balanced between the need to deliver the scheme in a timely fashion (as delays in the duration of the works increases the cost of the works).”
Lowdham roundabout will be getting a third lane on the A612 Nottingham Road, while a maintenance scheme and relining will take place at White Post roundabout.
Before the main works start across each junction, a further report will outline the needed traffic management measures.