Economic development in the Avonmouth and Severnside areas has been given a massive boost after the Government today finally gave the go ahead to a new junction on the M49 near Bristol.
South Gloucestershire Council and the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership first made a plea for the new interchange more than two years, arguing that it would open up hundreds of landlocked acres with huge development potential.
Developers of sites in the area had similarly been calling for a junction to trigger development of what is widely viewed as the Bristol area’s last untapped industrial expansion zone. 
Today, two days ahead of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander named the scheme among a £15bn package of improvements to England’s roads.
The road programme, which the Government claimed is the biggest for a generation, will be officially unveilled in George Osborne's Autumn Statement on Wednesday. Labour said many of the schemes had already been announced but delayed and accused the Government of "all talk and no delivery".
The Avonmouth and Severnside areas have long been seen as hugely important to the future of Bristol’s economy as they have large tracts of prime development land, much of it brownfield.
But more importantly it boasts almost unrivalled transport links as it combines Avonmouth Docks – one of the UK’s largest international container ports – with the motorway network, existing rail links and close proximity to Bristol Airport. Some 45m people live within a 300km radius of Avonmouth.
The area is already a magnet for distribution and industrial firms – it has attracted the likes of Honda, which stores its Swindon-built cars there, and engineering giant GKN, which has opened a world-leading composite aircraft wing plant.
Some 1,800ha (4,448 acres) of land in Avonmouth and Severnside have been designated an Enterprise Area.
Matthew Cross, head of inward investment at Invest Bristol & Bath, said: “This new junction will be a significant boost to the strategic regeneration projects planned for the Avonmouth/Severnside Enterprise Area, linking high-quality office space to other key hubs in the region and nationally.
“This will encourage companies from outside the region, both from elsewhere in the UK and overseas, to invest in the area, particularly with Hinkley Point C in the pipeline as this project will attract supply chain companies in highly-skilled sectors such as science, technology and engineering. It is excellent to see that the necessary investment is being made to open up these opportunities.”
