Will budget changes starve Suffolk of rail and road improvements?

Haughley junction needs to be upgraded to carry more trains from Felixstowe. (Image: Gregg Brown) Hopes of major rail and road improvements for Suffolk could be hit after it emerged that the Chancellor slashed transport infrastructure spending in this week’s budget. Although Chancellor Jeremy Hunt committed to a 1% rise in real terms for public spending for the next 12 months, official budget figures appear to show that the Department for Transport’s resource spending in 2024/25 will fall from GBP8.2bn this year to only GBP5.7bn.

There are fears this could hit proposals to upgrade vital rail junctions at Haughley and Ely which are vital for freight trains going to and from Felixstowe and Harwich. Stephen Britt, chair of Suffolk Chamber’s Transport & Infrastructure Group, said: “In spite of an outline business case showing that for every GBP1 spent on upgrading the junctions there would be nearly GBP5 in economic and environmental benefits, the project has not been progressed by Government. “This news of big departmental cuts further reduces the chances that the necessary work to significantly move the project forward will begin in the near future – if at all.”

In recent months, Suffolk Chamber has been lobbying ministers and Rachel Reeves[1], the shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, to commit to releasing funds to commence detailed onsite work.