Highways Agency - Safe roads, Reliable journeys, Informed travellers

The purpose of the next stage is to establish the extent of the land that will need to be acquired, to develop the design of the preferred route in more detail, including the design of junctions, to understand the implications of the project across a wide range of environmental factors, and to propose suitable mitigation measures, such as landscaping and planting.

Various surveys will need to be carried out. A ground investigation survey will identify the nature of the underlying soil to allow the foundations of the road and associated structures to be designed. An archaeological survey will investigate the archaeological features of the area affected by the road proposals. Other environmental surveys will be carried out as required. Further consultations will take place with English Nature, English Heritage, the Environment Agency, the Countryside Agency and local authorities. Findings from this work will be detailed in an environmental statement. Much of the survey work will take place on private property and the Highways Agency's consultants will discuss access arrangements with the occupiers and landowners concerned.

Once this work has been completed, the Agency will publish draft statutory Orders, which will include details of the land required for the scheme, and an environmental statement. There will be further publicity when this happens and people will be able to consider the proposals and make representations and objections. A public inquiry may be held if objections cannot be resolved. If a public inquiry is called, the scheme cannot progress until the Secretary of State has considered the evidence presented to him by the independent inspector overseeing the inquiry.

It is expected that the draft Orders will be published before the end of 2004, leading to a public inquiry, if required, in 2005. It is difficult to predict when the proposed scheme might be built as the procedures described above vary in duration from one scheme to another. However, subject to the satisfactory completion of the statutory procedures, construction could be expected to begin in 2006 at the earliest.