Bridge linking Northern Ireland and Scotland ‘would cost £335bn’

By Neil Lancefield and Craig Paton, PA

A bridge or tunnel between Northern Ireland and Scotland would cost hundreds of billions of pounds, according to research commissioned by Boris Johnson.

The prime minister has previously talked up the creation of a fixed link to boost connectivity, but it is understood the idea has been scrapped as it would be too expensive and technically challenging.

A feasibility study led by Network Rail chairman Sir Peter Hendy found that a bridge would cost an estimated £335 billion, while a tunnel would be around £209 billion.

Sir Peter said the price of either project “would be impossible to justify” as “the benefits could not possibly outweigh the costs”.

A bridge or tunnel would be the longest structure of their kind ever built.

It would take nearly 30 years to complete planning, design, parliamentary and legal processes, and construction, according to the research.

The report also said Beaufort’s Dyke – an underwater trench on the most direct route between Scotland and Northern Ireland – would need to be “carefully surveyed” due to a million tons of unexploded munitions being dumped there between the First World War and the 1970s.

A bridge would have a “sacrificial outer layer” enabling its main structure to survive a “local detonation”, the study said.

Sir Peter concluded it is “technically feasible to construct, maintain and operate” a tunnel or bridge but recommended that no further work should be carried out due to the cost.

Mr Johnson has pledged to create a strategic transport network across the UK following a wider review of connectivity by Sir Peter.

One of the key recommendations of the report is to create a UKNet, which would map out strategic locations and plot how to link them together, while providing extra funding for underperforming areas of the network.

The prime minister pledged to set up UKNet “right away”.

In Scotland, Sir Peter recommended upgrades to the A75 in the south of the country which would improve connectivity to Northern Ireland.

Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon welcomed the formal recommendation that the "Tory vanity project" should not go ahead.

Earlier this week Ms Mallon sent a memo to Boris Johnson asking him to divert the project's budget to Northern Ireland 

“Alongside others in Scotland, I am calling on the prime minister to deliver his long promised investment so it can used by those of us in devolved administrations to enhance our public services to ensure we can deliver what our citizens and communities deserve."