Calls for road improvments in Tendring to help with access to new Freeport
Tendring District Council says there is “urgent need” for improvments on the A120 and A133 - to make it easier to get from Clacton to Harwich
A redesigned junction between the A120 and A133 so people get easily get from Harwich to Clacton has to be ‘high on Government’s list of priorities’ to bring the opportunities offered by a new Freeport across the district, a council leader has said.
Tendring District Council says there is “urgent need” to enhance the A120 from its junction with the A133 at Great Bromley to Harwich. Without it some people would not be able to benefit from “the full potential of Freeport East”.
In the March 2021 Budget, the Government announced the intention to designate sites in Harwich in Essex and Felixstowe in Suffolk as ‘Freeport East’ – one of eight new Freeports in England that it says will act as hubs for global trade and national regeneration as well as creating a hotbed for innovation that will have impact across the UK.
It says that with its unique global links and existing innovative sectoral clusters, Freeport East will attract inward international investment and drive domestic growth, propelling the country’s economy forward.
But the council says poor links between the A133 and A120 will hinder the full benefits of people living in Tendring – motorists can drive from Clacton to Colchester from the A133 to the A120 or from Colchester to Clacton but they cannot drive from Clacton to Harwich or Harwich to Clacton.
Leader of the district council Councillor Neil Stock said resolving this must be high on the priorities associated with Freeport East.
He told cabinet on June 17: “We hope that Freeports are going to set Harwich going economically and really get the economy booming and create tonnes of jobs.
“But that is not of much to us if people in Clacton can’t even get to Harwich or back again which at the moment is a virtually impossible journey.
“So making that existing junction a multi model grade separated junction has got to be high on our list of priorities as is the dualling of the A120 all the away to in to the heart of Harwich.”
He added: “Whatever we can do to achieve a junction so you can go from the A120 to the A133 and vice versa from Harwich to Clacton and from Clacton to Harwich has got to be good thing.
“I do believe the Freeport will be an opportunity and cataylist to drive that and really make that an imperative. That has to happen and the Government has to fund it as a priority.”