Since 2023, a number of of the Division for Delivery’s primary initiatives had been cancelled because of affordability pressures and adjustments in govt priorities.
Since April 2023, the quantities written off from cancelled highway and rail initiatives have totalled £2.7bn. Those write-offs come with cash that has been spent designing and beginning to ship job that has now been stopped, and the relief within the worth of property.
A file via the Nationwide Audit Place of business this week on Division for Delivery (DfT) spending supplies a breakdown of the cash sunk on cancelled initiatives.
Those come with:
- HS2 Segment 2 – £2,171m
- All-lane-running sensible motorways – £62m
- A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down (Stonehenge tunnel) – £224m
- A1 Morpeth to Ellingham Dualling – £68m
- A27 Arundel Bypass – £67m
- A358 Taunton to Southfields – £67m.
An additional £46m was once wasted in the course of the cancellation of 4 different freeway schemes – the A5036 Princess Approach, A47 Nice Yarmouth Junction Enhancement, M27 Southampton Junction 8 and the A27 Worthing & Lancing Enhancements.
Throughout HS2, Community Rail and Nationwide Highways, the DfT spent £20.4bn on capital initiatives within the yr to March 2025 plus £20.9bn income expenditure.
In August 2025, DfT revealed its draft RIS3 plans (for Nationwide Highways’ 3rd five-year highway funding technique length). This set out an purpose to put higher focal point at the upkeep and renewal of the street community, and on managing the infrastructure that already exists, reasonably than tackling congestion or including capability via construction new roads or bypasses.
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