It would appear that the plans to widen the M25 have been abandonned, presumably to save money (given the recession and the fact that banks are no longer paying corporation tax etc).

This should be welcome: continually expanding roads only generates extra traffic and pollution, as we have seen countless times before. The proposal to use the hard shoulder, something I have observed working successfully in the Midlands, is not without its difficulties and will involve some additional widening in the ‘safe havens’ that need to be created at 500 metre or 800 metre intervals – these are essentially secondary hard shoulders to deal with broken down vehicles.

As ever, though, it is only half a policy. We learn this morning that the Government’s rail programme depended on high passenger numbers and we can only fear that lost reveneues will yet again be recovered by increased ticket pries. Rail is too expensive. If we want a working transport system, we need to make rail affordable and reliable. Ten days ago I was forced to drive to Liverpool and back because of the unreliability of the railway line. This is madness.