BUSINESS and community leaders have reacted with disappointment to the cancellation of a multi-million pound project to upgrade a stretch of the A1 to motorway standard.

The Department for Transport axed the A1 Leeming to Barton upgrade, in North Yorkshire, in this week’s Comprehensive Spending Review.

Work was due to start in 2014 and about ten miles of dual carriageway would have been converted to a three lane motorway.

It was part of a £340m scheme, approved two years ago.

Last night, Transport Secretary Phillip Hammond told The Northern Echo the project would not go ahead for the “foreseeable future”.

Work continues on the southern section, from Dishforth to Leeming, which is due to be completed in 2012.

The decision means the socalled “missing link” of motorway, between the North- East and London, will still exist.

Mr Hammond said: “At the start of the spending review, we looked at projects that did not have a realistic chance of being funded and we switched them off.

“Traffic patterns change and the options change, and if it’s unlikely to happen by 2018, when the next spending review is due, it probably needs to be reviewed.”

Councillor John Weighell, leader of North Yorkshire County Council, said: “This is not totally unexpected, but nonetheless it is disappointing.

“The scheme was very important for the region.”

Councillor Carl Les, who owns a service station off the A1 at Leeming, said: “It is sad that the last few miles of motorway will not be constructed.

“The real disappointment is for the drivers who use the A1.

“Steps must be taken to enhance safety between Leeming and Barton, to cater for the non-motorway traffic, like slow-moving tractors.”

Douglas Kell, regional director of the Civil Engineering Contractors’ Association, which has warned of job losses among the companies it represents because of cuts to transport budgets, said: “These are cuts to road building projects that the North- East can ill afford.”

■ Announcements on other proposed transport projects in the region, including the £38m Bedale, Aiskew and Leeming Bar bypass, are expected to be made in the coming weeks.