Petition supports A46 widening

The petition calls for the dualling of the A46

A 3,000-name petition has been submitted to Parliament urging the government to widen a section of a main road in Nottinghamshire.

Newark MP Patrick Mercer presented the petition to the House of Commons calling for the work on the A46 to start as soon as possible.

He said the work had slipped down the government's priority list and may not get under way for another three years.

The work is vital to improve safety and help businesses, the Tory MP said.

Government refusal

"This road needs to be dualled to link Lincoln to Newark and Leicester to Nottingham in the other direction," he said.

"Unless this stretch of road is dualled in the near future, we will continue to have a disproportionate number of accidents and the town (of Newark) will not achieve its full potential."

The Freight Transport Association has also been lobbying for the work to proceed.

They have said the work to make the 17-mile (28km) stretch between Newark and Widmerpool a dual carriageway was to start in 2008 but has now been delayed.

The start date was put back after the government carried out work to identify regional transport priorities.

A spokesperson from the Department of Transport said he could not speculate on what date the work would start.