Improvements are set to be made to a busy motorway junction in Stoke-on-Trent after it was announced the second phase of HS2 has been scrapped.

Junction 15 of the M6 connects the motorway network to the southern tip of the A500 in Clayton, but is a well-known bottleneck.

It carries more than 40,000 vehicles per day and was put forward for investment by transport specialists at Midlands Connect.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak unveiled a raft of transport schemes last week which are all set to be given funding from money which would have otherwise been spent on completing the northern section of the high speed railway project.

Stoke-on-Trent South MP Jack Brereton has been campaigning for improvements at Junction 15 for a number of years, and is pleased to see it's been given government backing.

He said: "This is something I've long called for, because there are serious congestion issues at this junction.

"Every day – every morning and evening – we have problems there. We've got serious safety issues, particularly for HGVs.

"I know that National Highways have already been doing some advanced work to look at the design, and they've been looking at options for that.

"It's fantastic that the government have decided to fund it, and the further work that's needed to undertake a complete rebuild of the junction.

"It was on a long list of schemes they agreed to work up, but there was no certainty at that stage that it would actually be funded.

"What we've had is a commitment that it will now progress and be funded for a full upgrade – which is what we need.

"The junction is very heavily congested, it's a major barrier in terms of the future regeneration that we want to see across North Staffordshire and it also has serious safety issues."

Jack Brereton MP praised the PM's decision to scrap HS2 and reinvest the money in local projects (Wiki Commons).

Mr Brereton had praise for the prime minister's decision to scrap HS2, and believes the money is better invested in more local projects.

He said: "I think it's good that we've seen money redeployed to these schemes, the £36 billion from Phase 2, because the fact there are a huge variety of schemes means those are more resilient projects and it's much more likely that we are going to deliver them.

"The problem with HS2 is it's one big project, a very costly projected which did overrun massively in terms of the risks associated with it.

"It didn't actually deliver the benefits it first set out to."

A spokesperson for Midlands Connect said the scheme was one of a dozen put forward by his organisation because it is one of the biggest 'pinch points' in the region.

Details haven't yet emerged as to the whether the government will adopt their suggestions in full.

Bosses at Midlands Connect are now hoping for a meeting with ministers to discuss the proposals further.

They submitted a briefing document outlining the benefits of improving Junction 15 back in April.

They estimated the scheme would cost £60-£80 million pounds, and this would provide more than £100 million in benefits when completed.

The spokesperson said: "If you improved the junction, this is one of the biggest increases of 'value-added' that you can get on the road network.

"It's obviously an important route because it connects the Midlands to the North West – and to the South, via the M1.

"The capacity enhancements at other junctions has meant that we haven't fixed this one – but if we don't then other investments further down the road won't get their full value."

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