The Department for Transport (DfT) has confirmed that all the local road schemes that were not listed in March as continuing following a review launched last year have now been officially pulled.
It has told me that it is progressing only the 16 major road network/large local major (MRN/LLM) schemes confirmed in March and that local authorities with schemes that are not among the 16 have been informed.
Until this point, reporting has only been ad hoc and sporadic. Following my reporting last Friday, I have now seen several more local and specialist media reports of MPs and/or local authorities being told that their MRN/LLM schemes, which were apparently still under review, are no more.
For example, the Gazette and Herald has confirmed the demise of the A350 Melksham Bypass.
In a letter to local LibDem MP Brian Mathew, roads minister Justin Mathers blamed the Tories for not funding the scheme, and the DfT told me that MRN/LLM programme launched by the previous government was “not properly funded”.
But the current government boasted last July that it had found “over £92 billion from the Spending Review settlement” to deliver
the biggest boost to England’s transport infrastructure in a generation
Out of this £92bn, the government chose to allocate just £1bn for local roads, to be shared between the so-called structures fund and the MRN/LLM.
Mathers made no mention of climate change but Mathew wrote on Facebook:
I will keep pushing for other ways to ease transport worries, particularly better public transport and improved rail and bus services to get more people out of their cars.
Meanwhile, Highways magazine reported that:
Cheshire East Council is ‘deeply disappointed’ that the Department for Transport (DfT) has removed the planned improvements to the A500 from the Government’s Major Road Network Programme
And the BBC has reported (separately) that the Blyth Relief Road, the A509 Isham bypass and the M5 Junction 9 scheme have all been canned.
Essex Live has reported:
Major A127 improvement work plans completely scrapped in ‘extremely disappointing’ move
Notts CC leader Mick Barton with East Midlands mayor Claire Ward
I have also worked out why the DfT has referred to 25 schemes remaining under review following the March announcement that 16 of 42 schemes put under review in July 2025 would continue.
In fact one scheme, the A614/A6097 upgrade in Nottinghamshire, was green-lit last December with a capped £24.3 million contribution from the DfT, and is in fact underway.
Other schemes, such as Southampton City Council’s West Quay Road scheme were dropped after the local authority said it could no longer afford its contribution.
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