What the Spring Budget will mean for Yorkshire's roads and motorways

Richmond MP Mr Sunak delivered plans to allocate £27bn of funding for the Government's Road Investment Strategy as part of the Spring Budget on Tuesday.

A Department for Transport document laying out plans for the major investment has revealed the areas of Yorkshire's road network benefiting from investment, as well as those which may undergo expansion in the future.

Some £400m has been allocated for strategic road schemes over the next five years, while plans will be developed to upgrade the Doncaster bypass and turn the A64 into a dual carriageway.

The A63 Castle Street in Hull and the M621 in Leeds are currently classified as under construction, while work is due to begin before 2025 improving the A61 Westwood Roundabout just off the M1 at Tankersley, in Rotherham.

Construction for some major Yorkshire roads was meanwhile delayed to 2025, including upgrades to the A1 Doncaster to Darrington, and even further expansion of the M1 between Sheffield and Wakefield.

The M1 Leeds Eastern Gateway and the Lofthouse junction between the M1 and M62 will also be expanded.

Breakdown for how much will be spent on various projects will be announced in due course.

Meanwhile, the DfT has earmarked a section of the A64 in North Yorkshire which would benefit from future investment, following lobbying from MPs to upgrade it to a dual carriageway.

Conservative MPs Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton) and Robert Goodwill (Scarborough and Whitby) have campaigned for the road to be expanded into two lanes north of Hopgrove so that it may accommodate the volumes of traffic it currently receives.

A Highways England study carried out in 2014 found that the A64 carried, on average, "double" the volumes of traffic it is designed to cater for north of Hopgrove.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told The Yorkshire Post in January that he was "regularly lobbied" on the issue by Mr Hollinrake and Mr Goodwill and praised them for their campaigning.

Despite the announcement work beginning construction would be delayed five years, Mr Hollinrake said he would "continue to campaign for this much-needed improvement".

The MP said: "It will bring huge benefits to the region through greater investment, productivity and economic growth.

"The region is the second most visited area outside of London with tourism making a major economic and employment contribution; it is an important artery to and from York hospital which provides acute and specialist healthcare services for 800,000 people living in an around York, North Yorkshire and East Yorkshire serving hospital sites in York, Malton, Scarborough and Bridlington.

"It will also cut journey times and fuel consumption significantly for businesses based along the A64 between York and Scarborough attracting investment and creating new jobs.”

While Mr Sunak said the investment in roads would help with the promise to "level up", the £27bn investment was criticised by environmental campaigners.

Polly Billington, Director of clean energy movement UK100, said: “While support for electric cars and for councils to reduce air pollution is welcome, it is still less than 5% of the £27bn the Chancellor has found for new road investment. 700 people die every week from illegal air pollution. In the year of COP, the Government needs to take action to arrest the climate emergency and tackle toxic air pollution.”

Rob Greenland, who is a vocal campaigner for reducing car journeys and increased use of public and active transport, said expanding roads would only "invite" more people to drive.

Mr Greenland, who is based in Leeds, said: "The amount of investment that goes into roads is always far more than what goes into public transport.

"A large percentage of this country's carbon emissions come from transport. It's the one sector where we have been going backwards.

"I can see why a lot of people might think that by making roads bigger will only reduce the congestion, and it will for two or three years. But it's not a long-term solution."