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Highways England will dual three parts of the 115 mile stretch of the A47 between Peterborough and Great Yarmouth, and improve several junctions and roundabouts, with work starting as early as 2018. Work on the first of the improvements – a junction upgrade at Great Yarmouth will now start next year, up to 18 months sooner than expected.

Preferred routes for each of the A47 upgrades were announced in August following public consultations earlier in the year. Until now, the date given for all of the schemes was between 2020 and 2021; today’s timetable spaces them out more evenly to ensure that there will not be too many sets of roadworks happening at the same time.

The details are in Highways England’s supplementary delivery plan, which has been published today and includes an update on how Highways England is delivering the Government’s £15bn road investment across the country, which includes a £1.5 billion project already underway to create a new 21-mile A14 link road between Cambridge and Huntingdon.

Jim O’Sullivan, Highways England Chief Executive said:

Our update today is a sensible and responsible way to deliver major national investment in road infrastructure. It will keep our roads moving, deliver a lasting legacy for the country and ensure best value for money for the taxpayer.

Work to improve the A47 includes dualling the A47 between North Tuddenham and Easton, further east between Blofield and North Burlingham, along with junction improvements at the Thickthorn Interchange with the A11 plus two busy junctions in Great Yarmouth, on what was formerly the A12. Further west at Peterborough, the work involves dualling a busy stretch between Wansford (A1) and Sutton, and improving the Guyhirn junction with the A141 .

The improvements to the junctions at Great Yarmouth have now been brought forward, and will be completed between 2018 and 2019, while a package of safety improvements on the Acle Straight have already been completed.

Meanwhile the A47 works to improve the A11 Thickthorn junction and the Guyhirn junctions will start between 2020 and 2021. Work to dual the A47 between Wansford and Sutton will also start around that time. Dualling the A47 between Blofield and North Burlingham and from North Tuddenham to Easton, will start between 2021 and 2022.

The supplementary delivery plan also includes updated timings for widening the A12 between Chelmsford and the A120 – now scheduled to begin later in the 2020-21 financial year. All are still set for delivery as part of the Government’s first road investment strategy. Two technology upgrades – on the A12 and M11 – require further development to show value for money and have been paused for consideration in a future Road Investment period.

Six consultations into the £300 million A47 upgrades were held between 13 March and 21 April this year. In total, 1,447 people had their say, with 1,333 attending the 19 public events. The six projects are all part of the Government’s record £15 billion investment in England’s motorways and major A roads, with £3 billion of that being invested in the East of England.

A47 North Tuddenham and Easton

Option 2 was chosen for the dualling between North Tuddenham and Easton, which will see the A47 upgraded to dual carriageway along its existing route, with the alignment been amended to address some of the key concerns raised.

A47 Blofield to North Burlingham

For the Blofield to North Burlingham dualling, option 4 was selected which will see a new stretch of dual carriageway built a little to the south of the existing A47.

A47 Thickthorn Interchange with A11

The consultation was about a single option for the junction improvements, which will now see delivered a direct link from the A11 northbound to the A47 eastbound, and similarly from the A47 westbound to the A11 southbound, alleviating congestion at the roundabout.

A47 Great Yarmouth junctions (formerly A12)

At Great Yarmouth, the Vauxhall roundabout will be enlarged and fully signalled, and get an extended bridge and a new slip road. There will also be minor improvements at the Station Approach junction, while the Gapton roundabout will be significantly improved as it is widened and fully signalled too.

A47 Wansford to Sutton

Option 2 was chosen for dualling the A47 between the A1 junction at Wansford and the dual carriageway section west of Peterborough. This will include building a new dual carriageway to the north, at the western end, and to the south, at the eastern end. There will also be a dedicated slip road from the A1 southbound to the A47 eastbound to alleviate congestion at the junction. Since the consultation, the alignment has been amended to address some of the key concerns raised.

A47 Guyhirn

The single option proposed for the Guyhirn junction will see the roundabout enlarged and the road over the River Nene Bridge widened to three lanes to ease congestion.

For more information about our plans, visit the scheme website.

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.

The Home Office has today (Thursday 19 October) published proposals to update the laws around antique firearms, following advice from the police and the Law Commission of a rise in criminal cases involving antique weapons.

A new consultation will consider enshrining in law a new definition of antique firearms, which will help ensure older firearms which still pose a danger to the public are licensed.

Minister for Policing and the Fire Service Nick Hurd said:

This country has some of the most robust gun laws anywhere in the world.

But we must not be complacent, which is why these laws are kept under review, and a rise in antique guns being used in crime requires action.

This consultation will bring clarity to the law so that older firearms that still pose a danger to the public are properly licensed to stop them falling into the hands of criminals.

The consultation follows recent convictions connected to the misuse of antiques weapons. In November 2015, 18 members of the ‘Burger Bar Boys’ gang in Birmingham received substantial sentences for a range of firearms offences. They had sourced antique firearms and arranged for ammunition to be specially made to fit the weapons. They had then sold the weapons to criminal gangs for considerable profit.

In June 2017, Sultan Meer from London was sentenced to 7 years’ imprisonment for firearm offences. A police investigation showed that Meer, who claimed to be a collector of antique firearms but was already prohibited from possessing a firearm, was obtaining antique guns and trying to acquire ammunition for them.

The consultation will consider which obsolete cartridges and propulsion systems will lead to a firearm being considered antique. It will also consider a change to the automatic cut-off date of manufacture after which all weapons must be licensed. Currently this date is 1939 but this could shift to 1900.

Geovation has expanded its programme to support three new PropTech start-ups. This is the first time the programme will back PropTech disruptors and follows news that HMLR will begin to collaborate with OS to stimulate the innovative use of land and property technology and data through Geovation.

The PropTech businesses will be joining the programme alongside three GeoTech start-ups.

Business Minister Lord Prior said:

Building more affordable homes is central to the Government’s commitment to creating an economy that works for everyone and the partnership between HM Land Registry and Ordnance Survey is a new and exciting chapter of this.

The Geovation Programme encourages and supports the growing number of new start-ups driving innovation in the housing sector. Geovation is now supporting six new PropTech and GeoTech companies to develop new technologies to propel the UK towards becoming a global leader in the land and property market.

The PropTech businesses are:

Rentr tracks UK local authority licensing schemes for rental properties, identifying properties that meet regulated safety standards. Landlords and agents can audit entire portfolios broken down by postcode in seconds and review the daily status changes of individual properties.

Orbital Witness uses satellite imagery, property ownership data and cutting edge artificial intelligence (AI) to conduct due diligence on properties to assist conveyancers, by highlighting areas of risk early.

AskPorter is an AI machine learning messaging platform that optimises property and facilities management by reducing administration and management costs while improving customer satisfaction. The platform uses an intuitive conversational interface that enables a chatbot to answer common questions.

The GeoTech businesses are:

FlowX offers a low-cost solution to traffic congestion, and the pollution this causes, by providing object classification algorithms to exciting sensory data. This is achieved by integrating data from existing infrastructure sensors and then applying machine learning to give the ability to react to congestion before it even happens.

Safe & the City aims to build a safer community one step at a time by creating a GPS app that uses evidence informed data and crowdsourced geotagged information to paint a picture of safe routes and what streets to walk down.

Explaain reinvents the online article. Most journalists put the most noteworthy information first and leave context and background for later. Explaain allows journalists to include more of the research that doesn’t usually make it into a final article. They recently used their technology to run GE2017.com – a voting preference app that had more than 2 million completed surveys in the run-up to this year’s general election. They will be developing location-aware alerts and reminders, and geospatial context for cards.

John Abbott, Director of Digital, Data and Technology at HM Land Registry says:

With our support these start-ups have the opportunity to revolutionise the technology that underpins the property sector and create data-driven services that will make property related transactions simpler, faster and cheaper for everyone.

During the first six months of the programme, participants will develop their ideas to prototype stage. They will benefit from £10,000 of funding and commit to spending twenty hours per week on their project. At this point the prototype will be assessed for its commercial viability. If the Geovation team decides it has viability, the following six months will be spent creating a product and launching it, assisted with a further £10,000 funding.

Alex Wrottesley, Head of Geovation, says:

We’re very excited to be working with these businesses. The programme offers an exceptional launchpad for any new business in the PropTech or GeoTech markets and we’re looking forward to giving this new group our full support.

• prison officer recruitment numbers have reached the halfway milestone for additional numbers of officers

A target to recruit 2,500 prison officers has already surpassed the halfway mark – putting the government well on track to bring in the staff it needs to help improve safety, Prisons Minister Sam Gyimah revealed today.

New figures published today show that from October 2016 to August 2017 there has been a net increase of 1,290 new prison officers. These new recruits will provide a necessary boost to the frontline so prisons can better tackle violence, self-harm and self-inflicted deaths.

A further 872 men and women are expected to have started their training by January 2018.

The commitment to increase staffing is a crucial strand of the government’s strategy to create prisons that are safer and more purposeful.

Prisons Minister Sam Gyimah said:

We are taking unprecedented action to improve the safety in our prisons and the additional 2,500 prison officers are a key measure in creating calm and ordered environments.

I have met prison officers across the country and am continually impressed by the work they do to manage prisoners day in and day out, to keep our prisons and the public safe.

Bringing in these additional officers is critical to achieving safe regimes and I am committed to building on these figures.

In addition, this month saw the launch of a new campaign to recruit over 200 Operational Support Grades. These staff will help to maintain the everyday roles which are vital to creating a stable regime.

With the boost to recruitment some prisons have already begun to plan and implement the new key-worker scheme. This will see each officer working more closely with around six offenders – building stronger relationships to bring about positive change.

The government has consistently said that a key element of prison safety is the recruitment of the 2,500 additional prison officers, along with a £1.3 billion investment to create 10,000 modern prison places.

Prime Minister Theresa May said:

I want to send my very best wishes to everyone celebrating Diwali here in Britain and all around the world.

The Festival of Lights is a special time for families and friends to come together, to share wonderful gifts and sweets, and to draw confidence from the knowledge that ultimately good will triumph over evil, hope over despair and light over darkness.

While Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists will all celebrate in their own way this week, the underlying message of Diwali – and its timeless values of duty and service – will resonate with people of all faiths and none.

As Prime Minister, I want to take this opportunity to say a special thank you – on behalf of the whole country – for the immense contributions you all make to every sphere of life in the United Kingdom.

From the doctors and nurses serving in our NHS, to the soldiers, sailors and airmen serving in our armed forces, the entrepreneurs creating jobs across our communities, and the stars of arts and culture inspiring and entertaining us, Britain’s Indian communities are a shining example of what makes our country great.

As successful and integrated communities you maintain your unique traditions while contributing fully to our national life. And you help to show the world that our United Kingdom truly is a place where people from all backgrounds and beliefs can live their lives in freedom and achieve their full potential.

So this Diwali let us celebrate the values and freedoms that we share – and let me wish you all a happy, peaceful and prosperous new year.

Shubh Diwali.