East Midlands Mayor slams PM after proposal to axe long-awaited key Derbyshire road improvement scheme

The Prime Minister announced a proposal to axe a number of road and energy capital projects to fund the Defence Investment Plan earlier today (Tuesday, June 30).

Two East Midlands road schemes, including key improvement works to the A38 junctions in Derbyshire, are affected by the proposal, which has sparked criticism.

The long-awaited project, valued at around £600m, was set to see improvements to three A38 roundabouts near Derby affected by frequent congestion, poor journey time reliability, and safety concerns – with flyovers and underpasses to be created at Kingsway, Little Eaton and Markeaton roundabouts.

Commenting on the PM’s proposal, Mayor of the East Midlands, Claire Ward, said: “The proposal to remove investment from two road schemes in the East Midlands – into the A46 and A38 – is completely unacceptable to me.

“I was informed of this decision as the Prime Minister was delivering his speech on the Defence Investment Plan. If Mayors and their regions are to be seen as respected partners of government, we need to be treated like grown-ups and involved in trade-offs which affect our regions.

“The trade-offs here are ones I understand. I understand that increasing investment into defence means removing it from other things. I understand that everywhere will need to contribute so that we can be safe in a less certain world. What I cannot understand is why the only region being asked to lose £900 million of investment into its roads is the East Midlands – that is not equitable and fails to recognise the decades of underinvestment that have preceded today’s decision.

“The East Midlands will play its part in delivering a safer world – we have strengths in defence and will be investing into those alongside the government. But people working in defence need good roads so that their staff can get to work, access their supply chains, and trade. We will not serve our defence sector well if we underinvest into its enabling infrastructure.

“The Government must seek contributions from regions other than ours and from spending areas other than roads. This is what I am asking Ministers for today.”

In his speech earlier today, Prime Minister highlighted that while capital projects including roads and energy schemes such as the A38 improvements, were ‘important’ they were not ‘immediately vital’ and could not go ahead as planned.

He added that ‘right choices’ needed to be made to support defence spending to ‘protect our nation’.