Transport Insights

Ministers are still unable to give a date for the opening of the Department for Transport’s (DfT) mythical “Structures Fund”, nine months after announcing it.

Two written parliamentary answers from roads minister and serial information concealer Simon Lightwood used “in due course” – which translates as “we can’t/won’t tell you” – in relation to finding out even how the fund will work.

The longer answer, in relation to a question from LibDem MP Sarah Olney about how many sites the DfT has shortlisted to potentially receive funding, made clear that we are nowhere near that point:

The Department for Transport surveyed local highway authorities and transport stakeholders on the assessment criteria for the Structures Fund in February 2026. We are currently considering the responses and will confirm the final prioritisation criteria in due course. Once these criteria are published, the Fund will be opened for investment proposals from local authorities, and the Department will then be able to confirm which, and how many, schemes are to receive funding from the Structures Fund.

Which is unfortunate because, when announcing the fund, transport secretary Heidi Alexander said:

Our structures fund will make long-overdue investments to repair ageing structures across the country…

Rather bafflingly, the DfT said:

Capital investment today will … address these immediate risks over the next five years.

Adding:

We will set out more detail about how funding will be allocated shortly. 

When I say it’s a mythical fund it’s because I take the old-fashioned view that a fund isn’t really a fund unless you put money into it and the DfT still hasn’t said how much of the £1bn it announced last June, to be shared with local road upgrades, will be available for structures.