Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the decision to cancel the A12 Widening Scheme on (a) business investment, (b) job creation, (c) economic growth, (d) apprenticeship creation and (e) the construction supply chain.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As announced on 8 July 2025, this Government inherited a series of commitments that could not be afforded, therefore the Secretary of State for Transport had to take the difficult decision not to progress the A12 (Chelmsford to A120) Widening Scheme. The decision was based on evidence assessed against a wide range of criteria, including economic growth impacts, and in line with the HM Treasury Green Book and the Department’s Transport Analysis Guidance.
Detailed information on the economic impact of the A12 Widening Scheme was set out in the application for planning consent published on the Planning Inspectorate’s website.
Information on the economic appraisal is available here: https://nsip-documents.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/published-documents/TR010060-000378-HE551497-JAC-LDC-SCHW-RP-TR-0109.pdf.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she made an assessment of the potential impact of cancelling the A12 Widening Scheme on housing growth.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As announced on 8 July 2025, this Government inherited a series of commitments that could not be afforded. Therefore, the Secretary of State for Transport had to take the difficult decision not to progress the A12 (Chelmsford to A120) Widening Scheme. The decision was based on evidence assessed against a wide range of criteria, including housing growth impacts, and in line with the HMT Treasury Green Book and the Department’s Transport Analysis Guidance. The Department will continue to work with National Highways and relevant partners to explore whether there are any small-scale interventions to potentially address issues on the A12 to support housing growth.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the cancellation of the A12 widening scheme on (a) levels of congestion, (b) road safety and (c) the economy.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As announced on 8 July 2025, this Government inherited a series of commitments that could not be afforded. Therefore, the Secretary of State for Transport had to take the difficult decision not to progress the A12 (Chelmsford to A120) Widening Scheme.
The decision was based on evidence assessed against a wide range of criteria including (a) congestion, (b) road safety and (c) the economy and in line with the HMT Treasury Green Book and the Department’s Transport Analysis Guidance.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the total cost to the public purse is for the A12 widening scheme.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As announced on 8 July 2025, this Government inherited a series of commitments that could not be afforded. Therefore, the Secretary of State for Transport had to take the difficult decision not to progress the A12 (Chelmsford to A120) Widening Scheme. In 2022, the A12 scheme had an estimated cost of between £1,045 million and £1,268 million, on the assumption of a start of works in 2023/24 under the previous government, which did not happen. Had the scheme proceeded following Spending Review 2025, the cost of delivery to the earliest timetable would be greater because of increases in prices over time and other factors. Following cancellation, National Highways will be working to bring the scheme to a close and will publish details on costs incurred in its Annual Report and Accounts in due course.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost to the public purse was of purchasing (a) land and (b) properties as part of the A12 widening scheme; and how (a) much land and (b) many properties were purchased.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As announced on 8 July 2025, this Government inherited a series of commitments that could not be afforded. Therefore, the Secretary of State for Transport had to take the difficult decision not to progress the A12 (Chelmsford to A120) Widening Scheme.
The cost to the public purse to date of purchasing a) land is £0.8 million and b) the cost to the public purse to date of purchasing properties is £19.9 million; and a) 38,600 square metres of land and b) 26 properties have been purchased. Following cancellation of the scheme, National Highways will be working to bring the scheme to a close and will publish details on costs incurred in its Annual Report and Accounts in due course.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the oral statement by her of 8 July 2025 on Road and Rail Projects, Official Report, column 815, if she will publish the (a) full detailed Green Book analysis, (b) costs and (c) benefits cost ratios for (i) each of the 50 schemes announced in that speech and (ii) the A12 widening scheme.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Business case documents, costs and benefit cost ratios for major schemes, including for the Strategic Road Network and for relevant schemes in the Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline are published on gov.uk.
For the A12 (Chelmsford to A120) widening scheme, information is already available on the Planning Inspectorate’s website.
For the wider set of 50 schemes referenced in the Secretary of State’s statement on 8 July 2025, detailed Green Book analyses, costs, and benefit cost ratios for each scheme have not been published as a single package.
The scheme-level business cases and economic assessments for projects in the Government Major Projects Portfolio are published as they are finalised and reach the appropriate stage in the investment process. Summary information on costs and benefit cost ratios for major transport schemes may also be found in the Department for Transport’s Major Projects Portfolio, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/major-projects-data
In the case of Major Road Network schemes, the business cases belong to the relevant local authorities. Whilst we encourage them to publish these, it is their decision whether to publish their business cases on their respective websites.
As each scheme progresses, further documentation is released and made available on gov.uk as appropriate. The Government is committed to transparency and will continue to make business case documents available in line with Green Book and Treasury guidance as schemes move forward.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the cancellation of the A12 widening scheme on housing growth.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As announced on 8 July 2025, this Government inherited a series of commitments that could not be afforded, therefore the Secretary of State for Transport had to take the difficult decision not to progress the A12 (Chelmsford to A120) Widening Scheme. The decision was based on evidence assessed against a wide range of criteria including housing growth impacts and in line with the HMT Treasury Green Book and the Department’s Transport Analysis Guidance. The Department will continue to work with National Highways and relevant partners to explore whether there are any small-scale interventions to potentially address issues on the A12 to support housing growth.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she considered including Marks Tey railway station in the rail access for all feasibility studies.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This government is committed to improving the accessibility of the railway and recognises the social and economic benefits this brings to communities.
In May 2024, the previous government selected 50 stations for initial feasibility work for potential upgrades as part of our Access for All programme. This did not include Marks Tey Railway station. We expect to provide an update to stakeholders further during the summer.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress her Department has made on plans for the A120 dualling scheme, in the context of the cancellation of the A12 widening scheme.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Working closely with local partners, National Highways has developed options to improve the A120 between Braintree and Marks Tey as part of the pipeline of projects being developed for possible delivery in a future Road Investment Strategy. Schemes in the RIS pipeline are uncommitted, and the Department will need to take decisions on which are the most viable for delivery. The Department expects to confirm which schemes remain in the Pipeline, and which will continue to be developed, when RIS3 is published early next year.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 17 June 2025 on Dart Charge, HCWS708, what estimate she has made of the number of vehicles using the Dartford to Thurrock Crossing in (a) 2022-23, (b) 2023-24, (c) 2024-25, (d) 2025-26, (e) 2026-27 and (f) each of the next five years.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The number of vehicles using the Dartford Crossing in the years 2022/23-2024/25 is set out below:
Year | Total | Of which during chargeable hours: |
2024/25 | 56,691,385 | 49,613,955 |
2023/24 | 57,498,960 | 50,266,519 |
2022/23 | 56,528,526 | 49,098,480 |
The impact of the charge increase on the number of vehicles using the Dartford crossing will be monitored for the remainder of 2025/26, and subsequent years.
My Department does not routinely publish revenue forecasts for individual budget lines such as the income from the Dart Charge.
Information about previous revenues for the Dartford Crossing are available in the annual accounts which are published online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-highways-annual-reports-and-accounts . For 2022/23 road user charge income was £126.6m and for 2023/24 £130.1m.
The Crossing’s full revenue is higher for each year owing to additional income from enforcement, abnormal load fees, and other rental income. This is also shown in the accounts. Accounts for 2024/25 will be published by the end of January 2026.