Since 2023, several of the Department for Transport鈥檚 major projects have been cancelled due to affordability pressures and changes in government priorities.
Since April 2023, the amounts written off from cancelled road and rail projects have totalled 聽拢2.7bn. These write-offs include money that has been spent designing and starting to deliver activity that has now been stopped, and the reduction in the value of assets.
A report by the National Audit Office this week on Department for Transport (DfT) spending provides a breakdown of the money sunk on cancelled projects.
These include:
- HS2 Phase 2 鈥� 拢2,171m
- All-lane-running smart motorways 鈥� 拢62m
- A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down (Stonehenge tunnel) 鈥� 拢224m
- A1 Morpeth to Ellingham Dualling 鈥� 拢68m
- A27 Arundel Bypass 鈥� 拢67m
- A358 Taunton to Southfields 鈥� 拢67m.
A further 拢46m was wasted through the cancellation of four other highway schemes 鈥� the A5036 Princess Way, A47 Great Yarmouth Junction Enhancement, M27 Southampton Junction 8 and the A27 Worthing & Lancing Improvements.
Across HS2, Network Rail and National Highways, the DfT spent 拢20.4bn on capital projects in the year to March 2025 plus 拢20.9bn revenue expenditure.
In August 2025, DfT published its draft RIS3 plans (for National Highways鈥� third five-year road investment strategy period). This set out an intention to place greater focus on the maintenance and renewal of the road network, and on managing the infrastructure that already exists, rather than tackling congestion or adding capacity by building new roads or bypasses.
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