A66 Trans-Pennine Supplementary Design Consultation: Brough Hill Fair

Overview

Investing in your roads

At National Highways, we believe in a connected country where our network makes these connections happen. Our roads link with railway stations, ports and airports to give people a choice of travel and to support interconnectivity. When it comes to getting people where they need to be, we provide three times more miles per person than the railways.

We operate, maintain and improve England’s motorways and major A-roads and our network totals around 4,300 miles. While this represents only 2% of all roads in England by length, these roads carry a third of all traffic by mileage and two-thirds of all heavy goods traffic.

Our road network forms the economic back bone of the country, is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and is relied on by communities and businesses to get from A to B.

Our 1,200-mile network across the north of England stretches from big cities like Manchester and Newcastle to the rural, single carriageways of Cumbria and Northumberland. It is one of the most diverse areas of motorways and major A-roads in the country to maintain and keep moving, so that we all get home safely. We also support local tourism, connecting the millions of holidaymakers who travel across the country to visit hotspots like the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales every year.

A66 Northern Trans-Pennine project

The planned improvement of the A66 plays a major part in our £27.4bn Roads Investment Strategy (RIS). It is the biggest investment in the north’s road network for a generation and is key to the Government’s Build Back Better and Northern Powerhouse plans, helping support local and regional growth. This huge investment will help level up the regional economic differences across parts of the UK.

The work we will deliver through this project will bring far-reaching benefits to those that use and live near the route. It will provide improved connections between Cumbria, Tees Valley and Tyne and Wear, but also routes between Scotland and the major towns and cities across the north. Critical national freight journeys will also be made more reliable. By providing better links, we will unlock access to tourism, jobs, essential services and new opportunities.

There are important choices to be made before the plans are submitted to the Planning Inspectorate in the form of an application fora Development Consent Order and a decision is reached by the Secretary of State for Transport. It is vital we listen to feedback from the people that live and work in the area and incorporate this into further design work.

Brough Hill Fair

The A66 Northern Trans-Pennine project is planning to dual the remaining single carriageway sections on the route between M6 junction 40 at Penrith and A1(M) at Scotch Corner. Our proposals were set out in our Preliminary Design Consultation in autumn 2021.

We’ve been reviewing the feedback from this consultation and using it to help us improve the final design as well as completing surveys to gain a better understanding of the local area, including the environment, ecology and heritage. We are also exploring ways to mitigate the potential impacts on areas such as noise, drainage and views of the landscape.

This work has led to a number of opportunities, in various locations, where we felt the design could be revised to improve aspects such as community connectivity, environmental and land impacts.

One of these areas is the proposed new location for Brough Hill Fair.

What we are consulting on

At our autumn 2021 Preliminary Design Consultation, we were asking for feedback on our plans to relocate Brough Hill Fair onto a site owned by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), adjacent to the current site. We have received feedback from our consultation with stakeholders, including local people and representatives from the Gypsy communities that this site might not be suitable as a location for the fair and further work would be required to make the site more suitable.

We have therefore been exploring other sites and have identified a possible alternative location on which we would like to obtain feedback. The site is 1.6 miles east of the current site.

We are now carrying out a supplementary consultation to give you the opportunity to tell us your thoughts on our proposals to help us determine which of the two sites to take forward.

Our proposals in more detail

Brough Hill Fair has a history which goes back centuries and is culturally important to the Gypsy community. The fair started in the 1300s and has been held almost every year since, for four days at the end of September.

It was originally held in Brough itself but in the mid to late 1600s relocated to Brough Hill to the north east of Warcop and north of the A66. Development of the MoD estate around Brough Hill meant the fair was moved again in 1947 to the present field alongside the A66. Brough Hill was once one of the biggest horse fairs in the country but numbers attending the fair have dwindled in recent years due to a variety of reasons including, most recently, the Covid pandemic.

Our plans for the widening of the A66 at this location mean that we require part of the existing field currently used for the fair. We have been working with representatives of the Gypsy and Traveller communities and local landowners to explore options for the relocation of the annual fair.

The map below shows the impact the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine project will have on the existing site. The red line shows the extent of the existing site where Brough Hill Fair is held.

At our consultation in autumn 2021, we proposed moving Brough Hill Fair to a site currently used by the MoD as a ‘bivvy’ or camping site and training area (Site 1: central site). The access to the site is from Station Road. The consultation feedback explained that the proposed MoD site has challenging land levels, is close to other residential properties and near to the A66. As a result of former land uses on this site, it may also require further work.

We are therefore considering whether an alternative site (Site 2: eastern site) might be more suitable. This site is to the south of the A66, approximately 1.6 miles east from the current site. This site has an access from Musgrave Lane which would allow access for horses and horse-drawn vehicles. It would also allow users of the site to park their caravans further from the road. This site is smaller than the alternative central site.

This eastern site is now being considered because the land will be purchased by National Highways for the development of the scheme. We welcome your thoughts on this as part of our supplementary consultation.

Why your views matter

Our Brough Hill Fair Supplementary Consultation runs from Friday 18 March to 11.59pm on Sunday 03 April. We welcome your thoughts on our proposals so please complete our feedback form either online or in hard copy. We are particularly keen to hear your views the suitability of each of these sites to hold the Fair and your reasons for this.

If you are looking at this document online and would like a hard copy, please visit our drop-in sessions or deposit points at St. Michael’s Church, Brough CA17 4EJ and the Sandford Arms, Warcop CA16 6NR. You can also call us on the number below or email to request a copy.

Join the conversation

We’re planning to host two drop-in sessions at Warcop Village Hall on Wednesday 16 March from 3pm to 7pm and at Brough Memorial Hall on Thursday 17 March from 3pm to 7pm. Members of the project team will be on hand to answer your questions and receive your feedback.

If you would like to view the technical documents which supported our consultation in autumn 2021, including the Preliminary Environmental Information Report, they will be available at the drop-in events and on this web page. They can also be viewed at The Sandford Arms, Warcop CA16 6NR.

If you have any questions, please contact us by emailing a member of the project team at: A66NTP@nationalhighways.co.uk or by calling our Customer Contact Centre on: 0333 090 1192 (local call rates apply).

You can also follow us on:

Twitter – @A66NTP, @HighwaysNWEST and @HighwaysNEAST

Facebook – A66 Northern Trans-Pennine project

Developed proposals

This project represents one of the largest and most important highways investments in the north of England in a generation. The A66 Northern Trans-Pennine project is classified as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) by the UK Government under the Planning Act 2008. As such, Highways England are required to make an application for a Development Consent Order to obtain permission to construct and operate the new A66.

Our consultation feedback form provides you with an opportunity to help us shape the proposals before we submit our Development Consent Order application.

For more supporting information, including Preliminary Environmental Information, Route Development Reports and Construction Methods from our earlier consultation in 2021, please click on the link below.

Why your views matter

Road infrastructure improvements affect everyone. They help us move around our country and connect with one another. It’s essential that we understand your views, so we can ensure we deliver the right schemes.

Public consultation plays a vital part in the development of scheme design. Your feedback on this consultation will help us understand how the proposed options impact road users and the local community. You will be helping to shape the scheme and maximise the benefits as we progress the design.

Projects of this size and importance need a Development Consent Order (DCO). Before we can submit an application for a DCO, we consult with road users, the local community and other stakeholders on our proposals for the scheme.

Another chance to join the conversation

Further to our Preferred Route Announcement in 2020, and our Design Consultation in 2021, your views are really important to us, so we  welcome your feedback and have included contact details and a feedback form on this page.

We’ll be consulting with you between Friday 18 March and Sunday 03 April 2022. This will provide you with the opportunity to find out more about our proposals and have your say about them.

We will continue to engage with landowners and local authorities on issues such as maintenance and signage arrangements as we work though the detailed design stage. We’ll also continue to engage with stakeholders, our Community Liaison Groups and Focus Groups about these plans.

If you want to review hard copies of any technical documents, we can arrange a meeting with you to do so where members of the project team will be on hand to guide you through our proposals and answer your questions. To arrange a meeting or ask any questions about our proposals, you can call or email us to request a meeting by emailing us on: A66NTP@highwaysengland.co.uk or calling us on 0333 090 1192.

Development Consent

The A66 Northern Trans-Pennine project is classed as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) under the Planning Act 2008. This means that we are required to make an application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) to obtain permission to construct our proposed improvements.

Before we can submit an application for a DCO, we must formally consult the local community and other stakeholders on our proposals for the scheme and the likely significant environmental effects based on the information available at the time.

Following our preliminary design consultation, a development consent application will then be made to the Planning Inspectorate, who will examine our proposals. The examination process is likely to involve public hearings. Following the examination, the Planning Inspectorate will make a recommendation to the Secretary of State for Transport, who will decide whether the project will go ahead.

Our application for development consent will be made on the full route between M6 junction 40 to Kemplay Bank and A1(M) junction 53 Scotch Corner and we intend to submit our application for development consent in spring 2022. Subject to development approval, we expect to start construction in 2024.

To help us shape the final design in preparation of the submission to the Planning Inspectorate, your feedback will help us shape the proposals before we submit our DCO application so it is important you are involved now and submit your response by 11.59pm on 03 April 2022.

Further information on the DCO process can be found on the National Infrastructure Planning website and also in our animation video below:

What happens next

Once our public consultation closes we will take time to analyse and consider your views when making further refinements to the proposed design and to develop our planned mitigation measures. We will set out a summary of the responses and describe how the proposals have been informed by and influenced by them in a consultation report. This will form part of our application for development consent and will also be available to the public following submission of the application.

Subject to completing necessary development works, we anticipate submitting a DCO application in spring 2022 to the Planning Inspectorate, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport (SoS), who will examine the application and hold some public hearings, before making a recommendation to the SoS, who will decide on whether or not the proposed scheme will go ahead.

Related documents 

A consultation brochure is available as part of this public consultation. In addition to the supporting information contained within this page, more supporting information, including Preliminary Environmental Information, Route Development Reports and Construction Methods can be accessed from our 2021 design consultation page by clicking on the link below.

Please note that some documents are larger than others and may need additional time to download before they are fully visible. You can access user friendly versions of our preliminary design consultation materials by visting our 2021 Design Consultation page however if you experience any issues accessing any materials, require alternative formats of our consultation materials, additional copies, or require materials posting to you, please get in touch with our project team by emailing A66NTP@highwaysengland.co.uk or by calling 0333 090 1192.