Statutory Instrument 2026/422, published on legislation.gov.uk, was made on 15 April 2026 and came into force on 16 April 2026. It amends the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine Development Consent Order 2024 following an application for a non-material change under paragraph 2 of Schedule 6 to the Planning Act 2008. The Secretary of State stated that the decision was taken after considering the application and the responses to publicity and consultation carried out under regulations 6 and 7 of the Infrastructure Planning (Changes to, and Revocation of, Development Consent Orders) Regulations 2011. That places the amendment within the post-consent procedure for limited changes, rather than a fresh examination of the whole scheme.
For planning and highways professionals, this is the sort of order that looks administrative until the schedules are read closely. A development consent order is governed not only by the fact of consent, but by the exact wording of its works descriptions, access tables, traffic measures and certified plans. Small textual changes can therefore alter the legal record of what may be built, which routes may be stopped up, and what replacement access must be provided. In that sense, the 2026 instrument is a technical correction exercise with real operational weight. It inserts a new work number, revises route descriptions and measurements, removes some references entirely, and replaces a substantial set of drawings with later certified versions.
The most visible change to authorised development appears in Schedule 1. The order inserts new Work No. 0102-1D-A for Scheme 0102, covering additional carriageway works and improvements to sections of the existing A66 east of the new Kemplay Bank Junction, together with new private means of access to an attenuation pond. Elsewhere in Schedule 1, the amendments tighten or update existing descriptions rather than widening the project as a whole. In Scheme 03, one reference is changed from footpath to cycle track, and the location wording is updated to refer to the site of the former Llama Karma Kafe. In Scheme 0405, one sub-paragraph is removed and one route reference is changed from existing Footpath 336/011 to Green Land Track.
Most of the order is directed at Schedule 2, which deals with permanent stopping up of highways and private means of access, and the provision of new highways and accesses. For Scheme 03, covering Penrith to Temple Sowerby, the amendments recast several entries by changing route type, deleting one reference, and revising recorded lengths including 720 metres to 690 metres, 865 metres to 740 metres, and 71 metres to 10 metres. The larger set of revisions applies to Scheme 0405, between Temple Sowerby and Appleby. Here the instrument reworks multiple access entries across sheets 1 to 5 of the rights of way and access plans, shortens or extends stated distances, removes several references altogether, and rewrites how new private accesses connect across the scheme. One of the more substantial substitutions concerns the arrangements around Ashton Lea field and the bridge-linked access described through new References 24 and 26.
These are not cosmetic edits. The access tables in a DCO are the legal record of which highways or private accesses are stopped up, what replaces them, and how land on either side of the scheme remains reachable. For landowners, local authorities, utility operators and route users, accuracy in those entries matters because the schedule sets the terms that can be relied upon once the project moves from consent to delivery. The same point applies to the order's amendments to road classification and traffic regulation measures. Schedule 7 updates several highway measurements in Scheme 0405, including the length recorded at paragraph 38 from 1.2 to 1.15 and the figure in paragraph 46 from 860m to 81 metre. Schedule 8 also adjusts speed limit plan measurements for realigned Cross Street and Realigned Long Marton. Read together, those changes point to refinement of the mapped legal description, not a new transport policy direction.
Article 3 and article 16 are especially important for anyone working from scheme drawings. The undertaker must submit any new, revised or substituted plans to the Secretary of State for certification as soon as practicable after the amendment order is made. Once certified, those plans are admissible in proceedings as evidence of the contents of the documents they reproduce. The replacement Schedule 10 then updates the catalogue of certified material across de-trunking plans, cross sections, plan and profile drawings, rights of way and access plans, traffic regulation plans and works plans. The revised references cover Scheme 0102, Scheme 03 and Scheme 0405, with numerous drawing sheets replaced by later revisions. In plain terms, this is the part of the order that determines which version of each drawing now carries statutory force.
The practical effect is straightforward. National Highways can continue to deliver the consented A66 scheme against a corrected and more precise set of statutory documents, while affected parties have a clearer basis for checking the authorised works and access arrangements that apply to land and routes along the corridor. The order does not create a new consent and does not reopen the case for the A66 upgrade; it updates the operative terms of the consent already granted in 2024. For readers tracking the Planning Act 2008 regime, the instrument is a useful example of how post-consent maintenance works in practice. The A66 Northern Trans-Pennine Development Consent Order 2024, already corrected by S.I. 2025/1084, has now been amended again through the non-material change procedure. The substituted plans may be inspected free of charge during working hours at National Highways, Three Snowhill, Snow Hill Queensway, Birmingham, B4 4GA.