Highways England is proposing for an 18-mile section of the A14 in Cambridgeshire to be classified as a motorway once upgrade work is complete, bringing economic and safety benefits, under plans announced by Highways England today (Friday 7 September).

The move will create an unbroken motorway link between London and Peterborough and will increase safety and improve journeys by encouraging local and long-distance traffic onto the most suitable routes.

Highways England is nearly half way through the £1.5bn project to improve 21 miles of the A14 between Cambridge and Huntington – the biggest road upgrade currently in construction in the UK.

That means the main section of the A14 upgrade between the M11 and the A1(M) can have the benefits of a motorway – including variable speed limits which reduce congestion and help traffic move more smoothly. The motorway section of the improved road will be called the A14(M) when it opens in 2020.

Highways England project director David Bray said:

We want the A14 upgrade to be the safest and best road it can possibly be, and we now have an opportunity to make our already robust plans even better by putting the right traffic onto the right roads when the new A14 opens to traffic

Creating a motorway link between the A1(M) and the M11 will mean motorists and hauliers carrying goods across the country will be able to travel more smoothly and safely, while local and slow moving traffic will benefit from the new routes we are introducing.

Cambridgeshire County Councillor Ian Bates said:

The A14 was completely off the agenda until we led a charge with local MPs and partner councils to get the much-needed improvements on this congested road. We fully support the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon major upgrade, which is why we contributed financially.

The A14 becoming a motorway will improve connectivity from the M11 to the A1 at Alconbury and will serve Peterborough. The upgrade of this road is vital to boost the local economy and create jobs. Cambridgeshire’s economy is recognised as being able to help kick start the national economy and unblocking the A14 plays an important part in that

Later this year, Highways England will formally ask the Planning Inspectorate to amend the road’s status from trunk road to motorway, in time for the project opening in 2020. The Secretary of State for Transport will then make the final decision next year.

If the change is given the go ahead, motorway status will also be extended to a three-mile section of the A1 from Alconbury to Brampton, which will be re-named as A1(M).

The A14 upgrade already includes new routes for local traffic, which will be usable by non-motorway traffic, as well as improvements for pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders.

Work on building the £1.5bn upgrade to the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon started in November 2016. The project includes widening a total of seven miles of the A14 in each direction (across two sections), a major new bypass south of Huntingdon, widening a three-mile section of the A1 and demolition of a viaduct at Huntingdon, which will support improvements in the town.

For the latest information about the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement scheme, visit the scheme web page, follow @HighwaysEast and @A14C2H on Twitter and visit the scheme’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/A14C2H/.

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.

Lyndon Porretta, 47, from Newport was a carpenter, who held management positions in a number of joinery installation companies.

In 2000, Lyndon Porretta set up Kruz Developments Ltd (Kruz) after he spotted a gap in the market caused by increasing demand for disability access. The company provided installation services to clients such as rehabilitation centres, banks and retailers across South Wales.

However, work declined during the recession and in late 2015, after inspecting company records, HMRC discovered that Kruz Developments had deliberately filed 14 VAT returns between December 2011 and September 2015 which understated the amount of tax due by a total of £521,814.

This led to a demand for VAT and penalties of £743,464, which Kruz was unable to pay in full. The company later entered into voluntary liquidation in 2016.

The Insolvency Service conducted an investigation following the company’s liquidation and confirmed that between at least 7 February 2012 and 6 November 2015 Lyndon Porretta caused Kruz to provide inaccurate VAT information to HMRC.

On 20 August 2018, the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from Lyndon Porretta after he did not dispute the findings of the investigation. His ban is effective from 10 September 2018 and lasts for seven years.

Wendy Jones, the Insolvency Service’s deputy head of Insolvent Investigations, said:

Mr Porretta gave false information to HMRC about the VAT owed by the company thus obtaining a significant financial advantage compared to other companies filing correct returns.

Unlike normal trade creditors, HMRC relies on the taxpayer to disclose the correct amount that is owed to them, so a failure to file accurate returns puts them at a disadvantage to other creditors.

Deliberately understating sales in order to reduce the VAT to be paid to HMRC is dishonest. This can also result in understated company profits leading to underpayments of Corporation Tax. Both give a company an unfair advantage over competitors. Taking action against Mr Porretta is a warning to all directors to seriously consider and ensure they perform their duties and obligations.

Lyndon Porretta is of Newport, Gwent and his date of birth is October 1970.

Company Kruz Developments Ltd (Company Reg no.04005898).

In giving his disqualification undertaking, Lyndon Porretta did not dispute that:

Between at least 7 February 2012 and 6 November 2015 he caused Kruz to provide inaccurate information to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in respect of Value Added Tax (“VAT”) due as a result of which HMRC are owed £637,197 at liquidation, in that :

• Kruz registered for VAT from 24 March 2000
• Kruz submitted VAT returns totalling £86,361 to HMRC for the periods 12/11 to 09/15. Payments were made totalling £86,361 against these returns
• Following an inspection of Kruz’s records in 2015, on 7 December 2015, HMRC identified a failure to disclose the full amount of sales between 12/11 and 09/15 resulting in under-declarations of VAT due on returns totalling £521,814. Interest of £38,320 and civil penalties of £183,330 were additionally due in respect of these periods.

A disqualification order has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:

• act as a director of a company
• take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership
• be a receiver of a company’s property

Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings.

Persons subject to a disqualification order are bound by a range of other restrictions.

The Insolvency Service administers the insolvency regime, investigating all compulsory liquidations and individual insolvencies (bankruptcies) through the Official Receiver to establish why they became insolvent. It may also use powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK. In addition, the agency authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, deals with disqualification of directors in corporate failures, assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.

Media enquiries for this press release – 020 7674 6910 or 020 7596 6187

You can also follow the Insolvency Service on:

Updated: Link to consultation outcome added.