Government says no to A303 tunnel and A27 bypass road projects 

Years of heated wrangling over two of the most controversial roads schemes in England have been ended by the new Labour Government, which has blamed the dire state of UK finances for a decision to axe proposals for both the A303 Stonehenge tunnel in Wiltshire and the A27 Arundel bypass in West Sussex.

The two roads projects have been on-and-off for years, with fierce arguments for and against the upgrades expressed by politicians, drivers and environmentalists. Both road schemes were proposed as solutions to significant bottlenecks on major routes, and their cancellation will outrage hard-pressed drivers as much as they delight the environmental lobby. 

The A303 pinch point at Stonehenge has been a problem for south-west bound holiday makers for years, exacerbated by the growth in local traffic, while the A27 bottleneck is one of several on the main route connecting cities on the south coast. They have both been axed by HM Treasury, following action by Rachel Reeves, the new Labour Government’s chancellor, who instructed Treasury officials on 8 July to undertake a rapid audit on public spending.  

Listing inflation, military spending in Ukraine, poor rail finances and higher than forecast public sector pay settlements, a treasury statement says the Government is taking action by identifying immediate savings to manage the pressure. On transport, it says, that means it will conduct a “review of the transport infrastructure portfolio, cancel A303 Stonehenge Tunnel and the A27 schemes, and end the Restoring your Railways programme”.

Responding to the announcements, RAC head of policy Simon Williams suggested the cuts create more questions than answers about exactly when Labour will begin to fix the country’s broken roads.

“The cancellation of the A27 Arundel bypass, from which Labour promised to allocate £320m for pothole repairs in its election manifesto, simply doesn’t scratch the surface of the problem,” he says, pointing to the fact that we’re still waiting to hear whether Labour will live up to the previous government’s promise to spend £8.3bn from the cancelled HS2 northern leg on desperately needed local roads maintenance.

“Following last week’s news from the National Audit Office that the extent of the pothole problem isn’t truly understood by the Government, now is the time for change. The new Transport Secretary has a real opportunity to deliver lasting improvements to the quality of the nation’s roads.”  

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