Fight goes on to dual Straight

campaigners could be heading for a clash with those pushing for more low-cost homes as pressure mounts to deliver new bypasses by siphoning off regional cash for road schemes - such as dualling the A47 Acle Straight.

Transport chiefs are pressing for funding changes to the way regional schemes are delivered to help smaller projects.

Norfolk County Council is resubmitting existing A47 dualling proposals along the Straight and continues to push for the third river crossing in Great Yarmouth.

Any chance of early relief to Great Yarmouth's growing congestion problems will be welcomed by the town's political and business communities.

After decades of campaigning to have the Straight dualled, wavering hopes appeared to take an irrevocable dive when the government removed the scheme from its priority list and

the EU took away the road's Trans-European Network status and, with

it, any hopes of European cash.

Meanwhile, the building of a third river crossing - highlighted as the single most important infrastructure objective by Yarmouth Borough Council cabinet member Graham Plant - has also looked increasingly like heading for delays amid recent news that government funding is unlikely to be available until some time after 2016 - at least three years later than the hoped-for date.

Mr Plant said that, while dualling the Straight would be a tremendous plus in terms of safety, studies had shown it was not necessary to make Yarmouth's outer harbour a success.

However, he said Yarmouth's future regeneration was pinned on the third river crossing by easing congestion across the whole town, including places such as Haven Bridge and the Fuller's Hill roundabout. It would also ease traffic jams at the worst bottleneck - the Gapton Hall roundabout - which has become the subject of a campaign by a taskforce of political and business leaders to seek out a solution, such as a flyover bridge.