Transport infrastructure expenditure: while there is no strong evidence of significant regional differences, the data available is problematic

The UK government uses a Value for Money framework to help allocate infrastructure expenditure. At the core of this is a benefit-to-cost ratio (BCR), calculated using a set of established monetised impacts and costs. Yet it has been argued that these BCRs are biased towards London and the South East. Henry Overman writes that, while there is no strong evidence of significant regional differences, there is a great need for better data that is recorded systematically and published openly.