Osborne - we will build motorway link road

Chancellor George Osborne has vowed the road will go ahead despite having previously been shelved while roads minister John Hayes has said the announcement will come following the autumn statement on December 3.

On a visit to Screwfix in Cannock, Mr Osborne said the road would attract businesses to the West Midlands and that he wanted to repeat the success of Jaguar Land Rover's £500 million engine plant, which has come to Wolverhampton because of public funding for a £36.7 million slip road from the M54 to the i54 business park.

The link road is expected to go from the M54 between junctions one and two, past Featherstone and up to Junction 11 of the M6 near Cannock.

The scheme was originally drawn up in 2003 and £112 million of funding was pledged by Macquarie Infrastructure Group, the M6 Toll operator, for a range of road improvements in the West Midlands.

See also: Link road between Midland motorways moves a step closer.

Mr Osborne said the investment had to go ahead.

He said: "We are investing a lot in our roads, more than the last government even though the economic situation they left was a very difficult one because we are determined to get the infrastructure in.

"And if you get the infrastructure in you get the businesses in and they create jobs.

"That's why it's so important.

"So specifically on the M54/M6 link road, that was cancelled by the last Labour government, that was exactly the wrong thing in my view for the long term future of the West Midlands.

"We have given the go ahead to funding of that scheme and now we just need, because there was this paused by the cancellation, to put it back together again and get the details right.

"But we are absolutely committed to it.

"The scheme will go ahead.

"I'm a pretty regular user of the M6 myself. I know all about the challenges of that link road and that's one part of solving those challenges, not just so we get people moving but also so that businesses say 'this is a great place to locate my business'.

"Jaguar Land Rover's engine plant is the kind of investment that follows when you get the infrastructure right."

Roads minister John Hayes also visited the Highways Agency's National Traffic Operations Centre in Quinton, which watches over motorways and major A roads.

The government has committed around £1 billion to major improvements of the road network across the Midlands to add 118 extra miles of space for cars and lorries. The next six years will see another £15bn spent on renewing and improving England's road network.

Mr Hayes said the Government had put the money aside for the link road project and would reveal more details following Mr Osborne's autumn statement in December.

Mr Hayes said: "We have made that commitment, and we are going to do that when the money is allocated in the Autumn statement. Following that we should be able to give some finer details.

"I know that it is important to local people that this happens, and again we will ensure that on that basis we make that information available to people so they know what is going on."

During his visit to Staffordshire George Osborne also revealed his confidence in new Tory candidates following the decision of two in the Black Country and Staffordshire to leave the Commons after a single term.

In total nine Tory MPs elected in 2010 have revealed they will stand down after just one term, leaving the party to defend seats with new candidates.

Cannock Chase's MP Aidan Burley is one of those as is Dudley South's Chris Kelly.

Mr Osborne said: "We're determined to build on the work Aidan did to save Cannock Hospital.

"People have a great choice here for a Conservative MP at the next election.

"And more generally, whether in Dudley or anywhere else you are going to have great, strong, local Conservative candidates. We got 150 new MPs at the last election.

"It's not completely surprising that a few of them, for different, personal reasons step down.

"The vast majority are seeking re-election and we hope to get a few extra on top that in seats currently occupied by Labour and the Liberal Democrats."