MINISTERS have not considered any specific plans to upgrade the A1 through Northumberland since taking power last year.

Transport Minister Mike Penning made the admission in Parliament, sparking a warning that nothing will happen in terms of improvements.

Hopes were raised that more funding to dual the A1 could become available after the Tories promised before last year’s general election that the road would be recognised as being of national strategic importance.

In the past, the required funding of around £400m was effectively denied to the North East by Whitehall, which insisted that any upgrade had to be paid for without help from national spending pots.

That left the region unable to pay for dualling as it would use up the North East’s entire funding stream on a single project.

Newcastle East Labour MP Nick Brown, who forced out the answer, said: “It sounds like nothing is going to happen. It is very disappointing.

“The correct way forward as a compromise was to share the costs between the region and the national department [for transport], and to improve the road incrementally.”

In a written Parliamentary answer, Mr Penning said: “This Government have not considered any specific proposals to upgrade the A1 north of Newcastle.

“In October 2010, the Department for Transport set out its plans for investment on the strategic road network in the document Investment in Highways Transport Schemes.”

The Conservative transport Minister added: “The department has recently issued a consultation about the status of the A1 north of Newcastle, proposing to upgrade its status to a route of strategic national importance.

“We are considering the views submitted and will publish our formal response in due course.”

The dual carriageway section of the A1 runs out near Morpeth. Only isolated sections further north have been dualled.