About West Winch Housing Access Road

We're planning to build a new 1.5-mile road in the area between the villages of West Winch and North Runcton. The area to the west of the new road is due to be developed with new housing and community and commercial facilities expected to be created.

The new road and associated measures will help to ensure the road network has the capacity to deal with planned growth in the West Winch Strategic Growth Area. The project will cut congestion on the A10 and take heavy traffic out of West Winch, which has been an increasing problem that has led to road safety concerns.

On current timetables, the road is very likely to be open for use before anyone moves into the new houses in the growth area. Even if there were any delays to the road, there is an agreement in place that no more than 300 homes can be developed with access via the existing A10.

Project proposals

The single carriageway road will connect to the existing A10 via a new roundabout just south of Gravelhill Lane in West Winch and join up to the A47 to the east of Hardwick Junction, also via a new roundabout. There will be three roundabouts along the new road, which will connect to local access roads serving the new development.

Once opened, the new road will become part of the A10. The current A10 through West Winch will become a local road for the village.

Along with the new road, the project will:

Upgrade a short section of the A47 to dual carriageway, between Hardwick Junction and the new roundabout with the housing access road (the new A10).
Make changes to the Hardwick Junction, to ensure it can cope with the additional journeys the new housing will generate.
Support people to walk and cycle by creating an off-road cycle and foot path along the length of the new road and putting in three new 'toucan' crossings, with traffic lights, across the main road through West Winch.
Provide landscaped areas and create and improve habitats for wildlife,in order to reduce the visual impact of the new road and ensure habitats are left in a better state than before the road was built.
Reduce the speed limit through West Winch to 30mph, slowing traffic and helping to encourage through traffic to use the new housing access road.
Bring in an 'access only' 7.5 tonne weight restriction on the main road through West Winch,to stop heavy goods vehicles driving through the village.
Replace the bus stop 'laybys' in West Winch with on-road bus stops, which will help to reduce other vehicles' speed and discourage through traffic from using this route.

Project objectives

Objectives for the project have been developed which consider national, regional and local policy. They also take into account local problems which can be addressed by improved infrastructure.

The resulting objectives are:

To drive economic growth by supporting housing delivery, employment growth and Levelling Up in King's Lynn
To enhance the A10's role as a strategic link supporting the wider King's Lynn economy
To provide a more resilient road network to improve journey time reliability and safety for all users
To improve the quality of life for residents of West Winch by reducing the volume of non-local journeys through the village
To provide better conditions in West Winch and along the A10 for travel by non-motorised modes
To increase active mode connectivity with the wider public transport network