Government commits to A38 Derby Junctions in new roads plan despite missing business case and collapsed value for money

26 March 2026

The Government has today published its five-year roads plan, Road Investment Strategy 3 (RIS3), stating work will start on the A38 Derby Junctions scheme in this road period. The Stop the A38 Expansion campaign condemns the decision, pointing to serious unresolved governance failures and a value for money case that has collapsed since the scheme was first designed.

The scheme still has no Full Business Case, which is not due until June 2026 at the earliest, and no Accounting Officer Assessment has been published despite the project exceeding the £500 million threshold that triggers this mandatory Treasury requirement. Yet it now appears in a statutory document laid before Parliament as a committed scheme.

The scheme's benefit-cost ratio has fallen from 6.1 in 2015 to 2.6 by 2018, and National Highways' own internal figures from 2024 put it at just 1.11. The Information Commissioner has ruled that the Spending Review data used to justify the scheme must be disclosed, a ruling National Highways is currently appealing.

During the 2022 re‑examination phase, stakeholders highlighted that the Benefit‑Cost Ratio (BCR) relied on outdated data, yet National Highways refused to recalculate it in line with updated guidance. The second legal challenge was permitted to proceed on the grounds that the scheme was signed off with an out of date economic assessment. However the court ruled that the Secretary of State for Transport was permitted to approve a scheme with out of date information because this information would be updated at the full business case stage before final approval.

Despite this requirement, the Government is seemingly pushing the scheme ahead with no Full Business Case and what public economic information is available, shows an incredibly weak case.

Transport Action Network, responding to RIS3 today, also highlighted the A38 Derby Junctions as an example of a poor value scheme based on outdated traffic forecasts, noting that costs have risen by over 200%.

Clare Wood, from the Stop the A38 Expansion campaign, said:

"RIS3, published today, confirms the A38 Derby Junctions scheme will start in this road period. Yet the government still hasn't published a Full Business Case or the Accounting Officer Assessment that Treasury requires for any project of this scale.

This scheme was designed in the early 2000s, built on assumptions about car use, induced demand and car-dependent development that were outdated then and are indefensible now. We are in a climate crisis, a biodiversity crisis, and facing long-term instability in fossil fuel supply.

The infrastructure we need is infrastructure that reduces car dependency, protects nature, and supports genuinely sustainable housing and land use. Instead, we are being asked to spend over £600 million destroying centuries-old trees, damaging local wildlife sites, building over parkland and agricultural land, increasing pollution and widening roads through Derby, on a scheme whose own economic case has collapsed.

The scheme's benefit-cost ratio has collapsed from 6.1 in 2015 to 2.6 by 2018, and National Highways' own internal figures from 2024 put it at just 1.11. The Information Commissioner has ruled that the Spending Review data used to justify it must be disclosed, a ruling National Highways is currently appealing.

This is happening while the same budget is supposed to be prioritising maintenance of the network we already have. Parliament has been presented with a statutory roads plan that treats this scheme as settled, while the evidence base for it remains hidden or incomplete.

That isn't good governance. It's a monument to institutional inertia at exactly the moment we can least afford it."

Notes to editors

The third Road Investment Strategy (RIS3) has been published today. It sets out the government’s priorities for the Strategic Road Network for the five year period between 2026-31 and the funding available. It includes a list of new road projects the DfT wants National Highways to build, and a pipeline of new road schemes for National Highways to develop for the next road period, RIS4 (2031-36). https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69c4265e471d520038d0f64a/ris3.pdf

The benefit-cost ratio figures are drawn from planning examination documents and an internal National Highways spreadsheet disclosed via FOI (October 2024). https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/information_supplied_on_a38_derb/response/3149484/attach/html/3/SR%20Phase%202%20Template%20NH%20REDACTED.xlsx.html

Information Commissioner’s Office Decision Notice IC-438853-P5Q9 (2025), requiring disclosure of Spending Review information relating to the A38 scheme. National Highways has appealed; tribunal pending. https://ico.org.uk/action-weve-taken/decision-notices/2025/12/ic-438853-p5q9/