On 27 May 2026, the Department for Transport brought into force the A46 Coventry Junctions (Walsgrave) Development Consent (Correction) Order 2026 after the applicant asked for errors and omissions in the earlier consent to be fixed. The statutory route used is the narrow correction power in Schedule 4 to the Planning Act 2008, which allows ministers to correct errors in the order itself and requires the relevant local planning authorities to be told that a request has been made. (legislation.gov.uk) That sounds like housekeeping, and sometimes it is. But a correction order exists because the first version was not right. Where a DCO hands over road, land and access powers, even a small drafting miss deserves closer reading than the bland label of an administrative correction suggests.
The underlying A46 Walsgrave DCO was made on 4 February 2026 and came into force on 25 February 2026. The Planning Inspectorate said the scheme would replace the existing three-arm priority roundabout with a grade-separated junction north of the current Walsgrave roundabout, with the B4082 extended to the new junction. (legislation.gov.uk) National Highways classed the project as a nationally significant infrastructure project, which is why it needed a development consent order rather than ordinary planning permission. It currently puts the Walsgrave element at £112.5 million, with a late-2026 start and late-2028 finish both marked as to be confirmed. (nationalhighways.citizenspace.com)
The made order is not short or simple. It covers permanent stopping up of streets and private means of access, road classification and speed limits, protective works to buildings, surveying powers, compulsory acquisition, and temporary use of land. (legislation.gov.uk) That matters because the people on the receiving end do not experience these powers as drafting abstractions. Landowners, occupiers, utilities and local authorities read them for access, compensation, protective works and limits on what the promoter can do. A wrong cross-reference or omitted wording can therefore create real argument before a shovel even reaches site. (nationalhighways.citizenspace.com)
The Planning Act draws a firm line. A correctable error must be in the part of the document that records the decision, not in the statement of reasons. The same Act also has separate machinery for later non-material changes and, where needed, a route to deal with more significant errors. (legislation.gov.uk) That distinction is more than legal housekeeping. It is the safeguard against departments using a correction order as a quiet substitute for proper scrutiny. Anyone affected by the A46 scheme should therefore read the correction schedule against the made DCO, line by line, rather than assume the phrase 'errors and omissions' means nothing of consequence. (legislation.gov.uk)
The background makes the slip harder to dismiss as teething trouble. National Highways submitted the application on 14 November 2024, it was accepted on 12 December 2024, and recommendations reached the Secretary of State on 7 November 2025 after a six-month examination. The Planning Inspectorate described the case as the 62nd transport application out of 171 examined under the 2008 regime. (gov.uk) In other words, this is not a novel process still finding its feet. The DCO system is well established, and that makes basic accuracy more, not less, important once ministers confer powers that can affect roads, land take and third-party property rights. (gov.uk)
No one should overstate what this correction order proves. It does not by itself show a flaw in the merits of the Walsgrave scheme, and Schedule 4 exists precisely because legal instruments do sometimes need limited repair. (legislation.gov.uk) But the standard ought to be higher than that. When the state is arming a promoter with powers over highways, access and land, nearly right is not good enough. The next test is whether the Department for Transport and National Highways have made the corrections clear enough for affected parties to judge whether they are truly technical as the project moves towards a late-2026 construction start. (nationalhighways.co.uk)