Government accused of 'defunding' East Midlands

The planned cancellation of two major road schemes appears to be part of a strategy to "defund" the East Midlands, the region's local authorities have said.

The claim features in a highly critical response to the government consultation on the scrapping of upgrades to the A38 in Derbyshire and A46 in Nottinghamshire.

In June, former prime minister Keir Starmer said some transport projects would be abandoned to help fund more defence spending.

But the only two projects announced were both in the East Midlands, prompting anger from local politicians, including Labour's regional mayor Claire Ward.

The Department for Transport said "no final decision" had been made and it was "carefully considering the responses".

In its consultation response, East Midlands Councils (EMC), which represents 39 local authorities, said it "strongly" opposed the cancellations and pointed out the region already had the lowest level of transport spending in the UK.

Taken together with the pausing of Midland Mainline electrification last year, the organisation calculates the East Midlands is losing £2.5bn of investment.

"Cancelling these schemes represents a further escalation of the apparent strategy of successive governments to defund the East Midlands and divert investment to other parts of England," the statement adds.

It is thought that the government earmarked the A38 and A46 upgrades for cancellation because they are not as far along as road projects elsewhere.

But EMC's director of policy, Andrew Pritchard, told BBC News there was "a huge amount of frustration amongst political leaders across all parties".

He added: "We are seen as a soft touch by central government, and a lot of people have taken the view now this can't continue, this must be a line in the sand."

East Midlands mayor Claire Ward declined to comment on the councils' statement, but her own consultation response pushed for the road projects to be reinstated.

She argues "years of work and public money have already gone into developing the schemes", which would "help unlock homes, jobs and investment".

Ward hopes the new prime minister, Andy Burnham, will look again at the upgrades, but on a visit to Derbyshire in August, he defended the "difficult decisions" that were taken before he entered office to boost investment in the armed forces.

Burnham did, however, float the possibility of a "long-term funding alternative" to pay for much-needed local infrastructure projects.

"We don't abandon the ambition," he told BBC East Midlands Today.

The road schemes were designed to improve traffic flow through two major bottlenecks.

On the A46, a four-mile stretch between Farndon and Winthorpe would have become a dual carriageway and on the A38, flyovers and underpasses would have been built at the Little Eaton, Markeaton and Kingsway roundabouts.

Both projects faced some local opposition, but had the backing of most local political leaders.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: "We have consulted with stakeholders on potential changes to road schemes, including the A38 Derby Junctions and A46 Newark Bypass schemes.

"No final decision has been made, and we are carefully considering the responses before setting out the way forward."

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