Somerset motorists face further frustration after a decision on dualling the A303 through the county was delayed again.

Highways England has put forward plans to dual the section between the Podimore and Sparkford roundabouts, which were debated at length at a public inquiry in 2019.

The Department for Transport (DfT) originally intended to make a decision on the scheme on December 12, 2019 – but this was pushed back to July 17, 2020 as a result of both the general election and the Court of Appeal’s ruling against a third runway at Heathrow Airport.

Now the decision has been delayed again to the middle of November to allow “outstanding concerns” regarding the scheme to be addressed.

This comes after a decision on improving the A303 near Stonehenge was also pushed back until the autumn.

Transport minister Andrew Stevenson MP issued a written statement on the Sparkford scheme on Monday (July 20), confirming a decision would not be made until the autumn.

He said: “The secretary of state received the Planning Inspectorate’s report on A303 Sparkford to Ilchester application on September, 12 2019.

“The deadline for a decision was previously extended from December 12, 2019 until July 17, 2020 to allow for further work to be carried out.

“The deadline for the decision is to be further extended to November 20 to enable further information to be provided by the applicant and interested parties on outstanding concerns raised, and consideration of that provided information, before determination of the application by the secretary of state.”

Highways England estimates that the scheme could cost between £100M and £250M to implement, with construction expected to begin in 2021 if approval was given.

Scheme project manager Hannah Sanderson said: “We remain confident that the upgrade will tackle a long-standing bottleneck on this section of the A303, reduce journey times to the south-west and improve traffic flows in that area at peak times and indeed during peak seasons.”

Mr Stevenson issued a separate statement regarding the Stonehenge scheme on Thursday (July 16).

He said: “The secretary of state received the Planning Inspectorate’s report on the A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down application on January 2, 2020, and the deadline for a decision was previously extended from April 2 to July 17 to allow for further work to be carried out.

“Following notification of a recent archaeological find within the World Heritage Site, the deadline for the decision is to be further extended to November 13 to enable further consultation on and consideration of this matter before determination of the application.”