Many of the local road schemes said to be funded ‘as a result of the decision to scrap the extension of HS2’ are existing schemes under the National Roads Fund (NRF).
The NRF (2020-2025) brought together the Large Local Majors funding stream and the Major Road Network to fund local authority road schemes - alongside cash for the strategic road network under RIS 2 - and was nominally funded by hypothecated VED.
The local element was originally said to be worth £3.5bn between 2020 and 2025 but was officially cut back to £2.6bn in 2021 since then only a very few new schemes have been funded in full.
On Wednesday, the Government said that as a result of the decision to scrap what it called ‘the extension of HS2’ – i.e. Phase 2, beyond Birmingham – every region would now receive transport investment.
Yesterday the government pledged to deliver... "A259 from Bognor Regis to Southampton"
— Louise Haigh (@LouHaigh) October 5, 2023
Today @Mark_J_Harper tweets graphic showing they actually meant Littlehampton...45 miles away.
This is a clown show. pic.twitter.com/t4KZK8YCAm
It announced £290m for 14 road schemes in the South East, including the A259 between Bognor Regis and Littlehampton. However, it was ridiculed for wrongly stating that the improvement would cover the route from Bognor Regis to Southampton.
The Bognor to Littlehampton scheme was in fact an MRN scheme and had been cited by Rishi Sunak in 2021 when he was chancellor as part of ‘a long-term pipeline of over 50 vital local road upgrades’ worth £2.6bn, i.e. the cut-down NRF.
In August, West Sussex County Council decided to scale down the proposed scheme Regis before submitting the outline business case to the Department for Transport (DfT).
Also part of the 2021 announcement was the Isham bypass, which was said this week to be among 10 road schemes in the Midlands ‘fully funded’ with £250m,
Those schemes also included the A43 between Northampton and Kettering. According to North Northamptonshire Council a bid for £19.2m of MRN funding is being progressed for Phase 3 of A43 Northampton to Kettering improvements, which have an estimated cost of £23.7m.
The Government also re-announced funding for the A10 between Ely and Cambridge as part of £610m to ensure the delivery of 39 road schemes across East Anglia.
This was one of the MRN schemes that the Government said in 2020 would proceed to the next stage of development.
Alongside re-announcements of individual schemes, the Government also pledged billions to long-term resurfacing works.
The North is in line for 'a new £3.3bn fund for road resurfacing', the Midlands is set to secure 'an additional £2.2bn to tackle potholes' and there would be £2.8bn for roads in East, South East and South West England.
This cash was said to be part of 'an unprecedented new nationwide road resurfacing scheme'.
However, the DfT has declined to give any timescales for the cash.
Based on previous announcements in the same document, the money could relate to the next round of the National Roads Fund from 2025-2030, making this not new money but a continuation of existing policy.
