Three long-awaited road projects will “probably” be completed in less than a decade, the Transport Secretary has said after giving construction the green light following a hold-up.
Heidi Alexander was unable to give a concrete timeline for when the schemes involving junction upgrades and dualling at key locations across Britain will be delivered, but said further details would be published in a strategy next March.
The Government on Tuesday announced the revival of major road and rail projects outside London and the South East, backed by £92 billion from last month’s spending review.
Most have been in the works for several years and many have already received planning permission, but their future was thrown into doubt last year when Labour announced a review of transport infrastructure projects.
In a statement to Parliament, then-transport secretary Louise Haigh accused the Tories of leaving a £2.9 billion gap between improvements it had promised and what it had funded.
Almost a year after launching its internal review, the Government will now press on with five major road schemes, five rail projects and 28 smaller road schemes, which it says will cut journey times, ease congestion, create jobs and support new housing.
These include a widening of the A66 Trans-Pennine route, first proposed in 2016, the M54-M6 link, and junction improvements in places like Derby around the A38.
Asked whether the projects would be delivered within five years, Ms Alexander told Sky News most would “start construction” within that period but take “varying lengths of time.”
Pressed on whether they were in fact decade-long schemes, the minister replied: “I don’t believe that they will take a decade to deliver, no.
“I think they will be delivered more swiftly than that, but it is true to say that these are very significant schemes which will take a number of years to deliver, probably not stretching out as far as 10 years.”
She said estimates for when the three projects will finish are to be published when the Government releases its road investment strategy in March.
Preparatory work for some of the schemes has continued despite the pause, but Tuesday’s announcement means they can now proceed in full.
The reopening of the railway between Portishead and Bristol, which has been the subject of a 25-year campaign, has also been given the green light.
The A66 upgrade was given planning permission in March 2024, but was delayed by an ultimately unsuccessful legal challenge and put on hold by the new Government’s review.
Construction is now expected to start this winter.
Former prime minister Rishi Sunak, whose constituency is served by the A66, welcomed the announcement, saying it would improve “journey reliability”.
The Portishead line, reopening a railway that was closed in the 1960s, was also thrown into question by the review, but then West of England mayor Dan Norris announced funding had been secured in February this year.
On Tuesday, the Government announced it would invest another £27 million in the project, which it said would “connect an additional 50,000 people” and support “a significant new housing development”.
Other major road schemes confirmed on Tuesday include the M54-M6 link, the M60 Simister Island junction near Manchester, the A38 Derby junctions and improvements to the A46 Newark bypass.
Both the Simister Island and Newark bypass projects are yet to receive planning permission.
The Government has also confirmed its commitment to build new stations at Wellington and Cullompton in the South West and Haxby in Yorkshire, which had all been part of the Conservatives’ Restoring Your Railway project that was scrapped when Labour came to power.
Funding for the stations, along with the Midlands Rail Hub plan to add 300 trains a day to the West Midlands network, was previously announced at last month’s spending review.
Other, smaller, schemes include improvements to the Middlewich Eastern Bypass, in Cheshire, and the A382 between Drumbridges and Newton Abbot, in Devon.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the investments were “long overdue” and would “transform local communities and improve living standards across the country”.
Ms Alexander said: “Transport is the backbone of our economy, which is why we are giving them the record funding boost they need, putting taxpayers’ money where it matters most and making everyday journeys easier.”
But the Conservatives accused the Government of using the announcement as a “distraction tactic”.
Shadow transport secretary Gareth Bacon said: “Labour are re-announcing projects that are already under way in order to distract from their failing economic strategy of high tax and high borrowing. They just don’t have a plan.
“Rachel Reeves’s catastrophic economic mismanagement and Keir Starmer’s total inability to control his own party has led to a string of unfunded U-turns, meaning that more tax rises are coming.”
