More than a quarter-of-a-billion pounds in reallocated HS2 funds to be handed over to Lincolnshire for transport projects

The sum – £262,339,000 in all – is funding that was due to be spent on the Government’s high-speed railway project, HS2.

Last year, the Government announced it would be reallocating £36 billion from HS2 to other schemes, money saved through such measures as scrapping the lines from Birmingham to Manchester and from Birmingham to Leeds.

The investment – dubbed the Local Transport Fund – is specifically for ‘communities outside city regions’, that is ‘smaller cities, towns, and rural areas’, the Department for Transport said.

It will be up to local authorities as how to best spend the funds, the department adds.

Making the announcement on Monday (February 26), Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “We have a clear plan to level up our country with greater transport links that people need and deliver the right long term change for a brighter future.

“Through reallocating HS2 funding, we’re not only investing over £1 billion directly back into our smaller cities, towns and rural areas across the East Midlands, but we are also empowering their local leaders to invest in the transport projects that matters most to them – this is levelling up in action.

“The Local Transport Fund will deliver a new era of transport connectivity. This unprecedented investment will benefit more people, in more places, more quickly than HS2 ever would have done, and comes alongside billions of pounds of funding we’ve also invested into our roads, buses and local transport services across the country.”

The funding will be delivered across a seven-year period from 2025.

It comes alongside £8.3 billion to resurface roads across the country, £1 billion to improve bus services in the North and Midlands, and £200m to extend the £2 bus fare cap across England – all from reallocated HS2 funding.

Councils will work with local MPs and will be held to account by the Government as well as their communities to make sure the money is spent promptly and effectively, the DfT said.

Possible improvements, the DfT suggested, could include:

• Building new roads and improving junctions
• Installing or expanding mass transit systems
• Improving roads by filling in potholes and better street lighting for personal safety
• Improving journey times for car and bus users by tackling congestion
• Increasing the number of EV chargepoints
• Refurbishing bus and rail stations
• Improving streets so they are safer to walk children to school and increasing accessibility for all

Coun Richard Davies, executive member for highways at Lincolnshire County Council, said: “We cautiously welcome this news about the reallocation of HS2 funding, as this is something we've been calling for from Central Government for years.

“This seven-year commitment for about £37 million a year extra will mean a 30-40 per cent increase in our maintenance budget over that time, allow us to build on the work we're currently doing, including filling 1,000 potholes a week. With an extra £37 million a year, we can clear a lot of our pothole backlog, improve a lot of roads and junctions, and enhance public transport in the county.

“It's really refreshing to see Lincolnshire not getting overlooked, and we very much look forward to understanding more about this funding, including whether it is actually additional funding and also whether the funding will be guaranteed following the next general election. From there, we’ll look forward to having our local MPs on side so we can make the most of what's being offered.”