Sunk costs of scrapped A1 scheme nudge £70m

A total of £68.4m was spent on a proposed scheme to dual 13 miles of the A1 in Northumberland before it was cancelled by the Labour government last year, it has emerged.

The A1 Morpeth to Ellingham dualling scheme, which was due to cost around £300m, involved upgrading eight miles of the road between Morpeth and Felton by constructing a new dual carriageway and upgrading five miles of the existing road between Alnwick and Ellingham.

Based on a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, the BBC reported that the amount spent on the project increased from £67m in 2023 to £68.4m in October, when it was cancelled on value for money grounds as part of the Budget announcement.

It said spending on the project included:

• £4m on the purchase of three properties, associated land and a paddock
• £15.8m on the preliminary design
• £31.6m construction preparation
• £7.2m on surveys and professional fees.

In a statement the Department of Transport (DfT) said: ‘Given the challenging financial picture inherited, we have had to make difficult decisions about a number of roads as they were unfunded or unaffordable.’

A spokesperson added: ‘We're committed to boosting growth across the country and National Highways will explore solutions to this section of the A1 that offer the best value for money.’

A National Highways spokesperson said: ‘We carefully review expenditure on all proposed projects to ensure that lessons are learned, and processes are improved for any future road improvement schemes.’

As Highways has reported, under the previous government, ministers delayed making a decision on the scheme’s planning application four times between receiving the Planning Inspectorate’s report in October 2021 and finally granting planning permission in May 2024.

The Conservatives had also listed the works as one of a raft of schemes said to be funded from savings from the decision to scrap Phase 2 of HS2.