While National Highways and ministers like to talk about the delays to infrastructure projects caused by the planning process, objectors and wildlife, the announcement that transport secretary Heidi Alexander plans to cancel the planning permission for a £100m road scheme is a reminder that government throws huge amounts of money on schemes that never come to anything.
Notice is hereby given that the Secretary of State for Transport is proposing to exercise the power to make an order, without an application being made, to revoke the A47 Wansford to Sutton Development Consent Order 2023 (the DCO).
The Secretary of State is satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances, namely that following the 2025 Spending Review, the government chose not to continue its commitment to funding this scheme. Accordingly, the Secretary of State proposes to exercise the power to make an order to revoke the DCO (the proposed order).
Indeed, when Alexander announced that the £100m project and other road schemes would be scrapped, she accused the previous government of promising infrastructure projects with “no plan to pay for them”.
There was of course the earlier case of the A1 Morpeth to Ellingham scheme, which the Tories pretended was still happening even after shelving it, granting a DCO that Labour subsequently revoked, and running up a bill of £70m.
Still, Labour seems to have found £3bn of public money down the back of the sofa for the privately funded Lower Thames Crossing smart motorway.
Transport Insights 
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