East Midlands Mayor urges communities and businesses to back campaign against A46 and A38 road scheme cancellations
The Mayor of the East Midlands is calling on businesses, organisations and residents to back a campaign to protect funding for two major road schemes vital to the region’s growth.
Regional partners from across the East Midlands gathered on Wednesday (19 August) alongside the A46 near Newark to demonstrate their support for the A46 Newark Bypass and A38 Derby Junctions schemes, which are currently at risk of cancellation.
The projects, worth an estimated £900 million, were identified as key infrastructure priorities for the region to improve connectivity, reduce congestion, support economic growth and unlock the delivery of thousands of new homes across Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
In June 2026, the Government announced it was considering withdrawing funding for the schemes as part of wider plans to instead increase defence spending.
Mayor Claire Ward and partners are now encouraging people across the region to back the campaign and protect this key investment in the East Midlands’ infrastructure.
Mayor of the East Midlands, Claire Ward said: “The East Midlands has faced historic underinvestment in transport, and these schemes would support jobs, housing and economic growth not just in our region, but across the country. They are essential to our future success and to ensuring our region gets the investment it needs and deserves.
“I want a strong country that can defend itself, but a strong country also needs strong infrastructure. Defence industries cannot thrive without the transport networks that support them. The roads we are fighting for connect workers to jobs, manufacturers to supply chains and businesses to markets.
“That’s why I’m asking businesses, community groups and residents to endorse our response and add their voice to this campaign. Together we can make the strongest possible case for securing the investment our region needs.”
Back the campaign
Supporters of the campaign are backing the two schemes for four key reasons:
- Both routes have high levels of congestion and cause delays for people travelling on them.
- Both routes blend the national and the local, connecting the East Midlands to national networks whilst also helping local journeys to be smoother. This serves the wider economy by ensuring goods can flow and services can be delivered.
- The routes support growth in important sectors for the national economy, including defence, manufacturing, engineering, aerospace, transport and logistics.
- Both roads will support the delivery of nearly 100,000 new homes across Derby, South Derbyshire, Amber Valley, Erewash, and Newark and Sherwood.
The A38 Derby Junctions scheme would deliver major improvements at Little Eaton, Markeaton and Kingsway roundabouts to reduce congestion and improve journey reliability on one of the region’s busiest routes.
Meanwhile, the A46 Newark Bypass project would upgrade a 6.5km section of the road from an existing single carriageway to a dual carriageway, reducing congestion, improving journey times and making travel more reliable on a key route through the East Midlands.
Businesses, industry leaders, organisations and residents are encouraged to show their support for the A46 and A38 road schemes.