Britain’s speedy planning unit gets the chop as megaprojects go on …

The Department for Transport has quietly axed a division tasked with speeding up infrastructure projects to level up deprived areas.

The Acceleration Unit was created in 2020 under Grant Shapps to help deal with “blockages and barriers” that kept projects behind schedule. While launched to much fanfare to “build back better” after Covid, it was closed at the end of March.

When it was launched, transport secretary Shapps said: “The creation of our new Acceleration Unit and investment in our roads and railways will ensure we build back better, greener and faster in the future.”

But a source from the disbanded body said that cuts in the autumn statement made infrastructure less of a priority. “There appeared to be a decision to slow down delivery