Policy win – July 2025: Multiple road & rail upgrades announced

This includes five major road schemes in the North and Midlands that have been long-standing priorities for Logistics UK. The M54 to M6 link road in Staffordshire will cut journey times and connect key economic hubs, while the M60/M62/M66 Simister Island project in Greater Manchester will also go ahead. The long-awaited A66 Northern Trans-Pennine route will finally proceed, creating a vital national and international economic corridor. 

The announcement also covered £24 billion for motorways, trunk roads and local roads, plus major rail enhancements including the Midlands Rail Hub.

Logistics UK has highlighted these priority routes in its UK Logistics Network report, published last year, and outlined how these improvements should ease congestion and improve journey time reliability. 

With 80% of UK freight travelling on roads at some point on its journey to the end user, an efficient national logistics network is critical to enable business to drive growth across the whole economy and ensure that the right goods are in the right place at the right time. 

Logistics UK will continue to call for investment in better maintenance of existing strategic and local infrastructure to improve reliability, capacity and safety, which will in turn help to unlock the UK's productivity.