The Secretary of State for Transport has granted development consent for the M3 Junction 9 improvement project, which will upgrade the junction to facilitate free movement from the A34 to the M3.

The application was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for consideration by National Highways on 21 November 2022 and accepted for Examination on 15 December 2022.  After an Examination where the public, Statutory Consultees and Interested Parties had the chance to provide evidence to the Examining Authority, recommendations were submitted to the Secretary of State on February 16, 2024.


This is the 51st transport application out of 137 applications examined to date and was again completed by the Planning Inspectorate within the statutory timescale laid down in the Planning Act 2008.  

The decision, along with the recommendation forwarded by the Examining Authority to the Secretary of State for Transport and the evidence reviewed by the Examining Authority to arrive at its recommendation, are accessible to the public on the project pages of the National Infrastructure Planning website.