£8.3 billion of extra roads resurfacing funding is being provided for English local highway authorities over the next 11 years funded by the cancellation of the northern leg of HS2.

Michael Fabricant says: “This year, Staffordshire County Highways will receive an additional £3,188,000.  This money will, over time, transform the condition of local roads, allowing all road users smoother, faster, and safer trips – paid for with savings delivered by the Prime Minister’s decision to cancel HS2 Phase 2. All HS2 savings that would have been spent in the North or the Midlands will still be spent here.  That is a 30% increase over last year and the total indicative additional funding allocation over the next 11 years will be £186,273,000 – a phenomenal sum of money.

“To ensure transparency into how this extra money will be spent, the Government is asking all authorities to publish on their websites:

• by 15 March 2024, a summary of the additional resurfacing work they will deliver with the new funding over the next 2 years;
• then quarterly reports, with the first by the end of June 2024, summarising the additional work they have done and listing the roads that they have resurfaced; and
• later in 2024/25 a long-term plan for their use of the full 11-year funding and the transformation it will deliver.

“It is well known that I welcomed the Prime Minister’s decision to cancel the second stage of HS2 and I am pleased to see there will be a clear cancellation dividend.

“In the meantime, I await with interest what proposals the two Andy’s – Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, and Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester – will be making regarding the upgrading the West Coast Main Line north of Handsacre to take full advantage of High Speed Trains being able to run at speed on those existing lines.”

Commenting on the additional funding for roads, Transport Secretary, Mark Harper says: “Every penny committed to the Northern leg of HS2 will go to the North, every penny committed to the Midlands leg to the Midlands, and every penny saved from our new arrangement for Euston station will be spread across every other region in the country.

“Lichfield is covered by a single local authority in receipt of this additional funding: Staffordshire.  It is important that residents benefit in full from this funding uplift, and ensure that Staffordshire is putting the money to good use while complying with the new reporting requirements that the Government has introduced.”