1997-style Bonfire of Road Projects with Labour victory?

[Richardf]

Could history repeat itself with regard to planned road projects if Labour win the next General Election?

Back in 1997 the incoming government scrapped most road projects that weren't already started or too far along to be stopped. I fear that the same thing could happen again. There seem to be too many schemes planned under RIS that are so bogged down in red tape so aren't far enough developed and would be all too easy to stop. If that happens they probably will never get started again. Many cancelled pre 1997 schemes have never seen the light of day again so there is precedent for this.

Hope I'm wrong but it would be scandalous if this happened. These schemes are too important to lose imo.

[SteveA30]

As I recall, some schemes were signed off on the last day to ensure they couldn't be scrapped. A35 Tolpuddle bypass and A30 Honiton-Exeter were two. Construction started immediately and they opened late 99/early 2000.

Any possible contenders for a quick last minute signature? Arundel?

[Steven]

Could history repeat itself with regard to planned road projects if Labour win the next General Election?

Back in 1997 the incoming government scrapped most road projects that weren't already started or too far along to be stopped. I fear that the same thing could happen again. There seem to be too many schemes planned under RIS that are so bogged down in red tape so aren't far enough developed and would be all too easy to stop. If that happens they probably will never get started again. Many cancelled pre 1997 schemes have never seen the light of day again so there is precedent for this.

Hope I'm wrong but it would be scandalous if this happened. These schemes are too important to lose imo.

To be fair, the previous Conservative government cancelled a large number of schemes post-1993 before the incoming Labour government in 1997 shredded most of what was left.

[Bendo]

What road projects are there to cancel other than a few fantasy pot hole repairs following years or Tory incompetence?

[RichardA35]

As I recall, some schemes were signed off on the last day to ensure they couldn't be scrapped. A35 Tolpuddle bypass and A30 Honiton-Exeter were two. Construction started immediately and they opened late 99/early 2000.

Any possible contenders for a quick last minute signature? Arundel?

Unfortunately the memory is slightly adrift - construction started late 1996 well before the GE.

[Richardf]

What road projects are there to cancel other than a few fantasy pot hole repairs following years or Tory incompetence?

Plenty of RIS schemes around depending on where you are.

[SteveA30]

Unfortunately the memory is slightly adrift - construction started late 1996 well before the GE.

Shame, would have been a good story if true........

[roadtester]

Could history repeat itself with regard to planned road projects if Labour win the next General Election?

Back in 1997 the incoming government scrapped most road projects that weren't already started or too far along to be stopped. I fear that the same thing could happen again. There seem to be too many schemes planned under RIS that are so bogged down in red tape so aren't far enough developed and would be all too easy to stop. If that happens they probably will never get started again. Many cancelled pre 1997 schemes have never seen the light of day again so there is precedent for this.

Hope I'm wrong but it would be scandalous if this happened. These schemes are too important to lose imo.

So show us the evidence that an incoming Labour government plans cancel road schemes.

While I hope that no schemes are cancelled, I can’t see how it would be ‘scandalous’ if an incoming government with a fresh democratic mandate decided to do this.

Considering that the current Tory government has smashed up just about every element of the public sector and pretty much every privatised utility is failing to deliver, this also seems like quite a small thing to worry about, even for people who are interested in roads - especially in the absence of any direct evidence that it is going to happen.

[Richardf]

I have no proof or evidence, I'm just suspicious and concerned that's all. Labour have a track record on this, being quite happy to scrap schemes in non Labour areas while keeping their traditional heartlands happy with a few token schemes.

Many of the planned schemes under RIS are located un the south and southwest, an area that was quite badly hit by the 1997 cuts and with a few exceptions has suffered under investment ever since imo. Scandalous might have been the wrong word. Disappointing and worrying certainly.

[jervi]

Whilst there are currently dozens of major road projects currently in the pipeline, I don't see many of them happening in the next 5 years with the current Government still in power, so will there actually be less delivered if Labour Party was in power?

Last major project which was delivered was the A14 Huntingdon Bypass, which started work in 2016, and opened in 2020.

A122 Lower Thames Crossing, A27 Arundel Bypass, A303 Stonehenge & A66 Trans-Pennine should have been in their construction phase years ago, yet still unknown when shovels will be in the ground.

[roadtester]

Whilst there are currently dozens of major road projects currently in the pipeline, I don't see many of them happening in the next 5 years with the current Government still in power, so will there actually be less delivered if Labour Party was in power?

Last major project which was delivered was the A14 Huntingdon Bypass, which started work in 2016, and opened in 2020.

A122 Lower Thames Crossing, A27 Arundel Bypass, A303 Stonehenge & A66 Trans-Pennine should have been in their construction phase years ago, yet still unknown when shovels will be in the ground.

I think a lot of these schemes are never going to happen - like the fictitious forty new hospitals.

Cancelling them would probably just be a recognition of reality rather than a cut as such.

One thing an incoming Labour government will need to do is to restore trust and credibility by bringing announcements back into line with reality, rather than pretend stuff is happening or going to happen.

Especially since 2015, the government has done little but announce stuff across departments and delivered next to nothing.

[Glenn A]

The Carlisle southern by pass seems quite safe, as work started this summer after problems with the previous contractor, but I'd hope everything else that has started isn't cancelled to score political points. TBH I'm no so fed up with the petty politcal point scoring and inertia, I switch off the news as soon as I see a certain chamber in London.

[Nicola_Jayne]

The Carlisle southern by pass seems quite safe, as work started this summer after problems with the previous contractor, but I'd hope everything else that has started isn't cancelled to score political points. TBH I'm no so fed up with the petty politcal point scoring and inertia, I switch off the news as soon as I see a certain chamber in London.

Indeed

also stuff like the Missing Link in Lincoln's outer ring ( the North Hykeham Relief road) and the A46 / A1 works around Anagram town (Newark) would be a vote loser if it became apparent there was a risk of cancellation

[AndyB]

Schemes already on the ground are unlikely to be at risk, unless there is genuine scope to reduce the scale of works and cost.

Cancellations will be schemes with no or little preparation work done. Some will have reached scheme design, but the main targets for cancellation will be schemes that the Tories only announced in order that Labour would be blamed for cancelling them as they had every intention of not being able to afford them after all, oh dear, what a pity, never mind.

[jackal]

It's quite sad to see the cynicism in this thread. If I were a politician the main message I'd take from it is that there's no point in building major infrastructure as no one cares what you do build, they only care when things go wrong - and let's face it, things are bound to go wrong.

Here's a list of RIS schemes that have been constructed or started major works since early 2015 (prices are initial projections, often far too low):

M4 Junctions 3-12 £>500m
A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon £>500m
M6 Junctions 13-15 £250-500m
M6 Junctions 2-4 £100-250m
M6 Junctions 16-19 £100-250m
M27 Junctions 4-11 £100-250m
A63 Castle Street £100-250m
M5 Junctions 4A-6 £50-100m
M25 Junction 30 £50-100m
M1 Junctions 24-25 £50-100m
A19 Testos £50-100m
A19 Coast Road £50-100m
A160/A180 Immingham £50-100m
M20 Junction 10a £50-100m
A5-M1 Link Road £50-100m
A50 Uttoxeter £25-50m (partial)
A21 Tonbridge to Pembury £25-50m
A30 Temple to Higher Carblake £25-50m
M55 Junction 2 n/a
M1 Junctions 24-24A improvement n/a
M42 Junction 6 £250-500m
M62 Junctions 10-12 £100-250m
M6 Junctions 21A-26 £100-250m
M25 Junction 10/A3 Wisley interchange £100-250m
M23 Junctions 8-10 £100-250m
A303 Sparkford - Ilchester dualling £100-250m
A19 Norton to Wynyard £100-250m
A1 Scotswood to North Brunton £100-250m
A1 Birtley to Coal House widening £100-250m
A30 Chiverton to Carland Cross £100-250m
M621 Junctions 1-7 improvements £50-100m
M25 Junction 28 improvement £50-100m
M20 Junctions 3-5 £50-100m
M2 Junction 5 improvements £50-100m
A46 Coventry junction upgrades £50-100m (partial)
A2 Bean & Ebbsfleet junctions £50-100m
M6 Junction 19 Improvements £25-50m
M6 Junction 10 improvement £25-50m
M56 Junctions 6-8 £25-50m
M49 Avonmouth Junction £25-50m
M25 Junction 25 improvement £25-50m
M1 Junctions 23A-24 £25-50m
A585 Windy Harbour - Skippool £25-50m
A19 Down Hill Lane junction improvement £25-50m
A52 Nottingham junctions £25-50m

And here's a list of schemes with a good chance of starting major works before the start of 2025:

A1 Morpeth
A12 Chelmsford
A38 Derby
A46 Walsgrave
A47 Thickthorn
A47 Blofield
A47 North Tuddenham
A47 Wansford to Sutton
A57 Link Roads
A303 Stonehenge
A417 Missing Link
A428 Black Cat
M3 J9
M54 to M6 link

I'd guess at least half will manage it, and will accept bets to that effect.

As the internets want to make everything party political, I suppose I should mention that I will certainly not be voting Conservative, for other (non-infrastructure) reasons, some of which are already mentioned in this thread. But any sensible person surely has to recognize that significant schemes have actually been constructed under the RIS framework, and that a change of government will hardly help matters in that respect (though, to be sure, it will help in other, non-infrastructure respects).

(Edited for list formatting)

[Bryn666]

I would prefer it if NH find they are directed away from facilitating housebuilders with no concern for the surrounding environment and more towards providing modern roads, including improving options for not driving where relevant.

[hoagy_ytfc]

I have no proof or evidence…

Quite. You’re getting cross about a fictional Labour policy that only exists in your mind, but not about ACTUAL active Tory policies that are wrecking everything.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[M19]

There were schemes that were canned and then brought back to life again under Labour, following a series of Route Management Strategies. A lot of the motorway network was planned to be widened properly when Labour then at least slowly began to realise that the so called Great Deal for Transport was a failure, and restricting parking for new builds led to a lot of pavements being used as parking spaces.

Unfortunately, someone came up with the wonderful idea that you could squeeze more traffic onto motorways by opening up the hard shoulder. A shame really because the motorway upgrades also included upgrades to some junctions.

The Tories have gone down the same path. Already the thrust is on maintenance rather than new builds. With the state of managed decline of the existing network, then how much more barrel scraping can you do?

[Chris Bertram]

I would prefer it if NH find they are directed away from facilitating housebuilders with no concern for the surrounding environment and more towards providing modern roads, including improving options for not driving where relevant.

Isn't that asking a bit much of an organisation called National Highways?

[Bryn666]

I would prefer it if NH find they are directed away from facilitating housebuilders with no concern for the surrounding environment and more towards providing modern roads, including improving options for not driving where relevant.

Isn't that asking a bit much of an organisation called National Highways?

You must have missed the memo that the "public highway" is open to everyone.