Monday 15th July 2024.
As of this evening, the Northumberland Coast Loop Petition stands at 628 signatures, which means it now has exceeded the figure achieved by the Dual the A1 from Morpeth to the Scottish Border Petition back in 2012, which only garnered 624 signatures.
The rail option, by this metric is the more popular one, and as set out below, is the better fit with national and local targets such as Net Zero (set in both Northumberland and UK-wide).
This is perhaps an even more stark and important comparison; as the Campaign Director, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, later became MP for Berwick-Upon-Tweed between the 2015 and 2024 elections.
The July 2024 election resulted in a decisive victory for the Labour candidate David Smith, who made not pre-election promises to dual the A1, whilst it was a central pillar of the Anne-Marie Trevelyans campaign, who came second place, followed up by the third candidate Natalie Younes of the Liberal Democrats, also campaigning for dualling of this road.
Given that result, it would give current North Northumberland MP David Smith no mandate for dualling, and goes against the grain of the wider Labour party to follow Net Zero targets and to improve the rail network.
We would like to call upon Northumberland County Council, the North East Mayor Kim McGuinness, Secretary of State for Transport Louise Haigh, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer to redirect funds away from the deeply flawed dualling of the A1 and instead invest into the rail network along the Northumberland Coast to bring improvements in rail services to, from, within and through Northumberland.
The Northumberland Coast Loop 