Transport Insights

The transport stories you won't see in the industry-friendly media

Author

Chris Ames

Tag: mrn

  • There was never enough money

    New Civil Engineer reports that City of York Council has agreed to phase the delivery of its Outer Ring Road project as the anticipated cost has jumped by almost £100m to £164m.

    This has been on the cards for some time and in February Cllr Katie Lomas, the council’s finance executive member, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that:

    it’s been clear for some time there was never enough money allocated to deliver it.

    On that basis, it’s worth recapping the history of the scheme, going back to 2018, when Tory transport secretary Chris “failing” Grayling announced that it would be one of the first schemes in the major road network, although his department had not yet revealed the actual network.

    The huge rise in the cost of the scheme – and therefore the huge funding gap – has been known about for a while, leading to the decision to phase delivery of the scheme and the scheme. I’ve written a few times that government funding for these schemes leaves councils well short of what they cost these days.

    But the fact that the council was still working on the full business case for the scheme  didn’t stop the Department for Transport claiming earlier this month that it was one of 28 local road schemes that had been “given the green light“.

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  • Uncertainty remains over local road upgrades

    It’s worth returning to Tuesday’s announcement about rail and road projects, in which the government falsely claimed to have green-lit 28 local road schemes, while actually confirming two, for what transport secretary Heidi Alexander told MPs about the schemes that are not (yet) getting funding.

    We know expectations were raised. And, sadly, we know there was no plan to pay for them. Indeed, schemes that formed part of the previous government’s major road network programme, all of which were meant to be in construction by now, have not progressed as expected. Almost half are yet to reach the outline business case stage, despite being in the programme for 6 years. Years of dither and delay wasted everyone’s time and left communities in limbo. This, I must say, is the tragic legacy of the farcical ‘Network North’ announcement made by the previous Prime Minister.

    I have probably covered the major road network (MRN), which ran alongside large local majors (LLM), more closely than any other journalist, noting how it was supposed to be part of a National Roads Fund paid for hypothecated Vehicle Excise Duty, but the money was never there and schemes just dribbled out.

    I also wrote extensively about how the Network North shambles promised to ensure that schemes happened but that really only meant potentially paying the full cost at outline business case stage for schemes that had got significantly more expensive since.

    The Department for Transport also suggested that £1.6bn MRN/LLM funding – focused on the North and Midlands – could continue into the next parliament (now the current parliament).

    (more…)

  • Labour re-announces road schemes “in construction”

    The Department for Transport’s (DfT) announcement of a “green light” for 28 local road schemes has fallen apart as quickly as the Tories’ notorious Network North announcement, as it emerges that many of the green lit schemes have been in construction for a while and others are still awaiting confirmation of cash promised years ago.

    I wrote earlier that the DfT had clarified that only two of the Large Local Major (LLM) and Major Road Network (MRN) schemes had actually had funding confirmed (today) but the department’s list of schemes with “funding confirmed” (now at the bottom of the announcement) includes schemes that are not only in construction, but were promised funding as far back as 2018.

    These include “Gallows Corner” and “A595 Grizebeck Bypass”, both of which were promised money in 2018 by the then transport secretary Chris “failing” Grayling, even before the MRN existed as a network.

    Also on the “funding confirmed” list is the North Hykeham Relief Road, which was the only new road project announced in the Tories’ November 2020 National Infrastructure Strategy.

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  • Rapid u-turn on green light for 28 local road schemes

    The Department for Transport (DfT) has confirmed that the “green light for over 50 road and rail upgrades” is not actually a green light for around half the schemes involved.

    The claim that more than 28 local road upgrades had been “given the green light” was an obvious lie. At best, 26 of the upgrades have, or still have, an amber light.

    I quoted and queried this bit, suggesting that there was some sleight of hand over the number of road schemes that have actually been green lit.

    To support local journeys, the government is also committing support to continue 28 local road schemes vital to connecting and growing communities. These schemes, which include the Middlewich Eastern Bypass and A382 Drumbridges to Newton Abbot schemes, are not motorways or trunk A-roads, but junctions, bypasses and traffic-easing projects which will improve millions of congested commutes and unlock further housing and jobs.   

    The DfT has now confirmed to me that the only confirmed schemes are the Middlewich Eastern Bypass and the A382 Drumbridges to Newton Abbot – a large local major (LLM) and a major road network (MRN) scheme respectively – while the others have been given ongoing development funding.

    Having followed the funding for LLM and MRN schemes for years, I know that final funding is confirmed two or three schemes at a time, not 28 all at the same time.

    The DfT has not “given the green light” to 50 road and rail upgrades.

    Image: Cheshire East Council 

    2 responses to “Rapid u-turn on green light for 28 local road schemes”

    1. Throwing random numbers at the problem – Transport Insights

      […] *UPDATE: I have now confirmed that the government has not green lit 28 local road schemes* […]

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    2. Labour re-announces road schemes “in construction” – Transport Insights

      […] wrote earlier that the DfT had clarified that only two of the Large Local Major (LLM) and Major Road Network […]

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