After years of campaigning and waiting substantial work is underway to create a new link road to Cornwall’s main arterial route.

The £85million road to provide a better link between St Austell and the A30 has been long in the planning.

The need for an improved transport link to St Austell has been talked about for decades, with business leaders highlighting that it was required to help improve the economic prospects of the town.

As well as helping the town it will also help villages in Clay Country, such as Roche and Bugle, which are currently blighted by heavy traffic passing through them to get from Cornwall’s main road and into St Austell. 

It was just this summer that the Government approved £78.5m of funding for the project, which had effectively been on hold until the funding approval was announced. Cornwall Council is providing £6m for the scheme and the remaining money will come from contributions made as part of planning permissions for developments.

Walking down towards Stenalees, where the new road will start, and looking across towards Roche you can see huge machines in a hive of activity in preparing the new route. The landscape which was previously dominated by a clay tip has been transformed to create what is expected to be one of the busiest road routes in Cornwall.

Driving through Roche you can see signs announcing the road project and entrances for works traffic which are building the new carriageway. For those who live in the area it has been a long time coming.

The new road is designed to take all traffic to and from St Austell to the A30, removing heavy goods vehicles and tourist traffic out of the Clay villages and onto the new route. It will also complete an improved route for the town which was started with the construction of the distributor road.

At 3.9 miles (6.5km) long the new road will be a single carriageway, which will bypass Roche and provide a much better and faster route to the A30 from St Austell. It has been claimed that the project could create 6,300 new jobs and provide economic benefits worth £112million.

At the same time it is envisaged that by creating a new route for traffic it will enable more cycling and pedestrian routes to be created to link parts of Clay Country with the town.

Welcoming the funding announcement in June, St Austell and Newquay MP Steve Double said that he was pleased to see a project he had campaigned for throughout his time as MP, as had his predecessors, become reality.

He said: “Local businesses and residents have wished for a better connection to the A30 for many years. Previous schemes had been cancelled and there had been little prospect of this road ever being built. When I began my first election campaign in 2014 I pledged to make delivering this road my top priority.

“I am delighted the road has now secured the final go ahead from government and this funding represents the biggest single investment by any government in mid-Cornwall. It has been frustrating that the construction of this road has fallen two years behind the original plans, mainly due to the pandemic, but we have finally got there.

“It now means work can begin immediately on providing this vital link. This scheme will not only benefit St Austell and the surrounding area, relieving pressure on Roche, Bugle and Stenalees, but also provide huge economic benefits and a more direct route to the A30 and Cornwall Airport Newquay.”

One of the main elements under construction at present is the new roundabout at Stenalees. This has meant that the Carthew Road has been closed since the end of September and will continue until December 22.

Work started on the construction of the road in July 2022 and it is due to be completed in Spring 2025.