Press Release: A38 Scheme Risks Losing Money as Government’s ‘Builders not Blockers’ Spin Fails to Hide Waste
15 Oct 2025
The Stop the A38 Expansion Campaign responds to the government’s recent statement “Chancellor takes on the blockers to get Britain building”. Tricia Howlett, a Derby resident and spokesperson for the campaign said:
" The Government’s ‘builders not blockers’ spin in a recent press statement[1] is a desperate attempt to distract from tax rises and its ongoing economic and governance failures as it panders to corporate interests.
The Government has recently blocked eight rail schemes [2] that would have created jobs, improved connectivity and journey times, and reduced emissions .
This includes the Midlands Main Line, which the Government chose not to fund in the latest spending review. Electrifying the route would create over 4,000 skilled jobs, cut emissions, increase capacity, improve passenger journeys, and boost regional growth by £400 million. Yet the Government has blocked Phase 3, wasting tens of millions and stalling cleaner, faster rail for the Midlands. [3]
Far from “unblocking growth”, Ministers are diverting public funds into low-value, destructive road schemes like the A38 Derby Junctions, a project with a Benefit–Cost Ratio (BCR) of just 1.11 [4], down from 2.6 in 2019 and likely lower once up-to-date costs and delays are included. That means roughly £1.11 of benefit for every £1 spent which is poor value compared to public transport investments that deliver far higher returns.
Worse, the cost estimate has exploded, potentially lowering the BCR to below 1, meaning the scheme loses money. The scheme was once estimated to cost £200–£250 million and has now ballooned to £646 million [5]. This rise was driven by the Government’s unlawful rush, reapproval based on outdated economic assessments, and continued backing without a proper, published economic case.
The Government tries to scapegoat legal challenges for their failures and deliberately omits that the A38 was found unlawful in a 2021 legal challenge, by failing to assess the cumulative carbon impacts of the scheme. That delay was caused by the Government itself pushing through an unlawful project.
It then reapproved the scheme using an outdated economic assessment that ignored changes to the Treasury Green Book. A second legal challenge was permitted by the courts because the approval relied on missing and outdated economic data. The judge agreed the information was out of date but only dismissed the legal challenge on the condition that a Full Business Case with updated figures would follow before any final investment decision.
This Full Business Case is reportedly not due until after June 2026, yet the Government has already approved the scheme in the Spending Review and is refusing to release the cost information behind that decision.
Despite this, ministers continue to present the A38 as confirmed, when the full economic case and final investment decision do not yet exist.
The pattern is clear: ministers are approving and fast-tracking schemes, sometimes unlawfully, without knowing the true investment value or full economic information. It is an appalling record of fiscal mismanagement. They claim faster delivery will drive growth, but in reality, it delivers less scrutiny and greater risk to taxpayers.
Local communities want cleaner, fairer transport infrastructure and investment, not another costly road scheme that trashes nature, causes over four years of disruption, bulldozes over homes, public parks and farmland while failing value-for-money tests. Calling lawful, evidence-based objections “blockers” is an attempt to undermine democracy and silence citizens, while the Government acts in an unaccountable and authoritarian way.
This Government is not “getting Britain building”. It is getting Britain conned - wasting money, wrecking the environment and failing to manage the country’s finances all because it puts the interests of corporate lobbyists and party donors over the British public. ”
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Footnotes
ABOUT: The Stop the A38 Expansion campaign is run by Derby residents that have been campaigning against the A38 expansion and for public transport investment instead since 2019. They have delivered petitions with thousands of signatures, sent hundreds of letters and launched two crowd funded legal challenges. The first was successful in 2021 and the second was not as the Judge ruled the Government was permitted to use out of date information as they would update the scheme’s economic case and make a final investment decision at the full business case stage. https://www.a38derbychaos.org/
[1]: UK Government press release, “Chancellor takes on the blockers to get Britain building”, 10 October 2025.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-takes-on-the-blockers-to-get-britain-building
[2]: Blocked rail schemes: Ely & Haughley Junctions (unfunded); Midlands Mainline Phase 3 electrification (cancelled); Salisbury–Exeter line (ignored – falling apart); South West Rail Resilience Programme Phase 5 ‘Dawlish’ (cancelled); York Area Capacity & Performance Project (unfunded); Peckham Rye Station Congestion Relief (unfunded); Tavistock to Plymouth Rail Reopening (cancelled); Railfreight improvements in Kent and Essex (unfunded).
[3] Press Release: Campaigners urge government to electrify the Midland Mainline and pull the plug on road schemes
https://www.a38derbychaos.org/news/electrify-midlands-mainline-scrap-a38
[4]: FOI request revealing BCR of 1.11 in a redacted Spending Review spreadsheet. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/information_supplied_on_a38_derb/response/3149484/attach/html/3/SR%20Phase%202%20Template%20NH%20REDACTED.xlsx.html
[5]: Cost increase of A38 scheme on Page 77 of ORR National Highways financial monitoring data, July 2025. https://www.orr.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2025-08/annual-assessment-of-national-highways-performance-2024-2025-web.pdf
