The risk attached to the Norwich Western Link road project has been formally downgraded after the Department for Transport confirmed the scheme remains part of its Major Road Network programme.

Norfolk County Council's Audit and Governance Committee heard on 28 July that the risk score for the project, recorded as RM033 on the council's corporate risk register, had fallen from 15 to 10. The reduction reflects increased certainty over the project's funding and status at a national level.

The Norwich Western Link is a proposed new road designed to relieve traffic congestion in the west of Norwich, connecting the A47 at Easton to the A1067 Fakenham Road. The scheme has faced uncertainty in recent years over whether central government would continue to support it.

The committee also heard that a separate infrastructure funding risk, RM001, had been closed entirely following what officers described as "increased certainty over longer-term Government funding arrangements."

External auditors Ernst & Young noted that governance arrangements for major infrastructure projects would still be examined as part of their ongoing value for money audit work, given the scale and complexity of schemes involved. They confirmed no concerns had been identified at this stage.

The risk register update was part of a broader quarterly report presented to the committee, covering corporate risks reviewed at the June 2026 Cabinet meeting.