Destructive road schemes cancelled! Will the A38 expansion be next?

We are still awaiting a court decision following our legal case on 14 May to stop the polluting and destructive A38 expansion. 

Meanwhile, there's some positive news - the new government has cancelled several road schemes, including the controversial Stonehenge project, to address a public spending deficit left by the previous Government. 

This is a good step, and we hope it leads to more focus on sustainable transport projects instead. 

The costs of schemes, like A303 Stonehenge and Lower Thames Crossing, have been underestimated. Some could cost more than they deliver in benefits. 

As you know, our latest legal challenge’s ground was on the out of date economic assessment. The £250 million A38 expansion hasn't had an economic assessment update since 2019. National Highways hasn't published the full economic assessment, and the scheme hasn't had a full business case analysis. 

We've raised concerns about the lack of oversight and transparency with this scheme. Costs haven’t been updated to account for inflation, carbon pricing and other treasury guidance for infrastructure projects. There's a troubling culture of secrecy within Government and National Highways. National Highways has refused FOI requests related to the economic assessment of the A38 scheme.

While we hoped for immediate cancellations of all problematic road schemes, the new Labour Government’s cancel some projects is a positive step. Louise Haigh’s recent announcement of an internal review of the Department for Transport’s capital spend portfolio is also promising. 

We believe the A38 Derby Junctions scheme should be scrapped on both economic and environmental grounds. Investing in better public transport, active travel, and traffic management would ease congestion, reduce pollution while retaining thousands of trees and wildlife habitats. Sustainable transport offers a better return on investment than road expansion and is crucial for tackling the urgent climate and biodiversity crisis.

Transport is now the UK's biggest contributor to the climate crisis, accounting for about a third of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. Investing in road schemes that increase traffic and emissions doesn't align with the UK’s legally binding climate targets and will worsen the impacts of the climate crisis, ultimately destroying more lives due to extreme weather, food shortages and social breakdown. 

Our campaign will be writing to the new Government to urge them to scrap this destructive and polluting scheme and we will be ready to launch an appeal if the court does not rule in our favour.