By way of further tidying up of the things that the DfT is very poor at making clear, the department has now published the definitive list of which local road upgrade schemes it scrapped and which were withdrawn by their local authority.
To recap, 42 schemes went into a review last year, one of which was green-lit in December, with a further 16 said in March to be continuing, leaving 25 in a zombie state until the DfT confirmed earlier this month that they had been put out of their misery.
Now the DfT has issued an October 2026 update on the Major Road Network and Large Local Majors (MRN/LLM) programme.
This states that, during the review, 10 schemes were withdrawn on the grounds that the promoting local authority could no longer afford its funding contribution.
Those schemes are:
• Shrewsbury North Western Relief Road (NWRR)
• Warrington Western Link Road
• Rocket Junction Liverpool – M62 J4 / A58
• Sheffield Innovation Corridor Road
• A13/ A126 East Facing Slip Roads
• A1237 YORR dualling Phase 2 – Wetherby Rd to A19
• Aylesbury Eastern Link
• Shipley Eastern Congestion Relief Road
• West Quay Road Realignment, Southampton
• A17 Pullover Junction
The picture I have used here is of the NWRR, whose unaffordability I have written about quite a lot and which was finally cancelled by Shropshire County Council in February.
The 15 remaining schemes were confirmed as being removed from the programme (i.e. by the DfT) following the finalisation of the review.
Those schemes are:
• A350 Melksham Bypass
• A500 Corridor Scheme
• A454 between Wolverhampton and East Park Gateway
• A509 Isham Bypass
• Blyth Relief Road
• Chesterfield – Staveley Regeneration Route
• Ely to Cambridge A10 Improvement (Dualling & Junction Improvements)
• Kendal Northern Access Route
• A31 Farnham Corridor
• A4174 MOD Roundabout Improvements
• A1079 Improvement Scheme, Wilberfoss
• A1139 University Access
• A127 Corridor for Growth – Route Improvements
• City Centre Road, Portsmouth
• M5 Junction 9 (A46 Ashchurch)
Highways magazine reported last week that the DfT had confirmed 15 schemes had been dropped but the fate of 10 schemes appeared uncertain until confirmation that they had been withdrawn.
The DfT has now replied two questions from two Tory MPs, including shadow transport secretary Richard Holden, having previously given holding answers. The replies simply linked to the new page, which explains that the review had considered “a number of factors” including:
• whether the schemes were affordable to local authorities and central government
• how soon they could be delivered
• their overall value for money
• how well they align with the government’s priorities, including economic growth and housing development
The DfT said the 16 that were said in March to be continuing are “subject to relevant business case approvals”, which of course brings us back to the A326 Waterside Improvement scheme.
What we still don’t have is any indication of how much of the £1bn announced last year will go to MRN/LLM schemes and how much to the mythical Structures Fund. An announcement on the latter may be imminent…
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