ROUGHLY £28m was spent on a new highway between Oxford and Cambridge before plans for the road were scrapped.

The Oxford to Cambridge Expressway was scrapped earlier this month by the Department for Transport after it carried out a cost-benefit analysis.

But the road had also been deeply unpopular with people across Oxfordshire and neighbouring counties, leading to protests, campaigns involving local MPs, and an election promise in 2019 from Tory transport minister Grant Shapps the road would be reviewed.

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Now, after the road was consigned to the dustbin, it has emerged the cost to the taxpayer was £28m, without any new road being laid.

A written question by Jim McMahon, a Labour MP and shadow secretary of state for transport asked how much the Expressway had cost before it was scrapped.

In response, DfT parliamentary under-secretary Rachel McLean MP said: "Highways England invested approximately £28 million in developing the Oxford to Cambridge expressway project.

"The analysis undertaken as part of that project is now supporting the consideration of where alternative future road investment may be needed in this area."

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In its eastern section, the planned Expressway would have followed existing roads, which have been upgraded in recent years.

But the western end would have been a newly constructed road through a 'corridor' of land in unspecified east part of Oxfordshire.

Many residents of villages in these areas objected to the plans because the road could be built through green fields near their homes.

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