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Hertfordshire County Council

The A120 Little Hadham Bypass opened to all road users and the flood alleviation scheme became operational on Wednesday 22 December 2021.

The new 3.9km Bypass to the north of Little Hadham alleviates congestion caused by the Little Hadham traffic lights and provides more reliable journey times. Hertfordshire County Council have worked in partnership with the Environment Agency to develop the scheme which includes flood alleviation measures.

New road embankments across the River Ash and Albury Tributary valleys act as flood defences to reduce flood risk to the village and other nearby communities. The scheme improves air quality in Little Hadham and also ultimately benefits the county’s economy, with more reliable transport links to Stansted Airport alongside other long-term advantages for Hertfordshire.

We would like to thank residents, businesses and partners for their continued support and cooperation.

 


What we've done and why

Map of roadworks and diversion routes

We've created a bypass of Little Hadham to improve journey times on this important east-west link in Hertfordshire. This will reduce congestion and help minimise flood risk within the village.

We've also looked to reduce the risk of flooding from the River Ash, Albury Tributary and Lloyd Taylor Drain in Little Hadham and Hadham Ford. We've built 2 dams and diverted 1 stream/river (watercourse).

A120 map (Oct 2019)

(click or tap to enlarge map)

Steps in this project

Step 5: Construction

We had funding approval from the Department for Transport.

We appointed a contractor, GRAHAM, as our contractor to build the bypass.

Step 4: Getting permission

We received planning permission for the scheme in Jan 2017.

You can use reference no: PL\0744\15 to view the full application.

Side Roads Order (SRO)

 
Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO)

Opening in a new wind

 
Environment Agency Compulsory Purchase Order (EACPO)

Step 3: Developing the scheme

Once funding was agreed for the project, we progressed the design. We shared this at the pre-planning consultation.

Based on your feedback we made a number of changes – see the A120 pre-planning application update.

Related documents

Step 2: Seeking funding

The project has been funded by Hertfordshire County Council and the Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) which has been granted approximately £27.4 million by the Government.

The Environment Agency has contributed towards the flood alleviation scheme.

You could build a flood alleviation scheme without the bypass, but this would need a lot more funding.

Step 1: Early options

In 2007 we assessed the traffic situation in Little Hadham and decided a bypass would be the best solution to reduce congestion in the area.

We drew up plans for a number of routes and chose what we considered to be the best option based on safety, effectiveness and cost.

A consultation was held to find out what you thought of the early plans. The Environment Agency came along to the consultation to show how we could reduce flooding with each route too.


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