Programme Status Breakdown
Delay Distribution (Weeks) — Top 12
Announced vs. Current Cost — All Schemes (£m)
Cost Escalation Forecast to 2032 — Active Schemes
HS2 — £43.6bn Spent, No Trains Running
HS2 Phase 1 was announced in 2012 at £32.7bn. The current estimate is £45.4bn — and the line will not open until 2033 at the earliest. Phase 2b to Manchester and the East Midlands was cancelled entirely in October 2023. Total HS2 expenditure to date: approximately £43.6bn. Zero passengers carried. The original benefit-cost ratio has been rendered meaningless by the cancellations.
Transpennine Route Upgrade — 17-Year Delay
Announced in 2014, the Manchester–Leeds upgrade was promised by 2022. The current revised completion date is 2031 — a 17-year delay from announcement to delivery. Cost has risen from £2.9bn to £9.4bn, a 224% overrun. The route serves England's two largest cities outside London and is critical to the so-called Northern Powerhouse. Northern Powerhouse Rail itself has now also been paused.
Lower Thames Crossing — Announced 2009, Still Not Approved
First proposed in 2009, the Lower Thames Crossing (A2/M2 to A13) received its Development Consent Order refusal in 2024. A revised application is now in process. Cost has risen from £5.3bn to £9bn. The crossing will not open until 2033 at the earliest — 24 years after first announcement. The existing Dartford Crossing, which it was meant to relieve, opened in 1963.
Hinkley Point C — 94% Cost Overrun, 6-Year Delay
Announced in 2016 at £18bn, the cost has risen to £35bn — a 94% increase. Opening has slipped from 2025 to 2031. EDF has repeatedly cited construction complexity at the Somerset site. The UK's only new nuclear station under active construction is now expected to be one of the most expensive power stations ever built. Sizewell C remains stuck at financing stage.
Emergency Services Network — 10-Year Delay
The replacement for Airwave (the analogue emergency services radio network) was announced in 2015 with a target of 2020. It is now not expected to complete until 2030 at the earliest. Cost has risen from £9.2bn to £11bn. Meanwhile, the incumbent Airwave contract has had to be extended — at additional taxpayer cost — for a system that was meant to be decommissioned years ago.
England Spends Most, Delivers Least Per Pound
England accounts for the largest share of UK infrastructure spending — yet its CPD Combined score of 85 is the worst across all four nations. The NAO, Infrastructure and Projects Authority, and National Infrastructure Commission have all highlighted systemic failures in appraisal, governance and delivery. The pattern — optimism bias at announcement, scope changes, procurement failures — repeats scheme after scheme.
| Scheme | Status | Announced | Current Est. | Variance | Delay | Detail |
|---|
Methodology & Sources
CPD Index (0–100): CPD-C (Cost Performance) and CPD-D (Delivery Performance) both run from 0 to 100 where higher = worse. CPD-C scores the proportion of schemes with confirmed cost overruns, weighted for severity. CPD-D scores the proportion of schemes with delays, weighted for severity. The combined CPD score is the unweighted average. England scores 88 (cost), 82 (delivery), 85 combined — the worst combined score across the British Isles.
Clock: The live clock shows cumulative active cost overrun on schemes with confirmed cost increases, compounding at a blended BCIS inflation rate of 3.8% per annum from 05 May 2026. Base: £95.4bn. Completed schemes and cancelled HS2 Phase 2b are excluded from clock compounding.
Cost data: Announced costs are taken from original HM Treasury, DfT, National Highways, Network Rail, BEIS/DESNZ and departmental press releases and business cases. Current estimated costs are drawn from NAO reports, IPA annual reports, National Infrastructure Commission assessments, and parliamentary written answers.
Delay data: Weeks of delay calculated from original target completion date versus revised target or today's date where no revised target exists. For paused/not-started schemes with no original delivery date, delay is calculated from announcement to today.
Primary sources: National Audit Office (NAO) · Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) · National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) · National Highways · Network Rail · HS2 Ltd
Disclaimer: This tracker is an independent professional assessment prepared by QuintinQS. It is not affiliated with His Majesty's Government. All figures are drawn from publicly available sources and are correct as of the date shown. Cost projections are indicative only.
CPD — about this acronym: CPD stands for Continued Prolonged Delays — a deliberate reference to Northern Ireland's Central Procurement Directorate, rebranded as Construction, Procurement, Delivery — the NI Executive body whose mandate is to ensure public infrastructure is built on time and on budget. The name is intentional.