Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said the savings mean additional schemes across the country can now be brought forward for consideration.

A further 23 schemes can now bid for funding from a pot worth around £630m and the Government wants to see savings of at least 42% on the work.

Hammond said: “The Government is committed to delivering transport projects which improve journeys while also helping economic growth.

“Following the spending review we challenged local authorities to look again at the cost of proposed schemes to ensure we get maximum value for every pound we spend. The councils being awarded funding today have met that challenge by achieving a saving to the taxpayer of £45.5m on the original proposed costs.

“That means more money is now available for other schemes across the country and I would urge other councils to follow this lead as they bid for funding. This will allow us to fund as many schemes as possible, delivering improvements to roads and public transport across the country.”

The Department for Transport announced in October that it was seeking best and final offers from local authorities for 10 schemes which it was prepared in principle to support. Following this challenge the local authorities found overall cost savings of 14%. The schemes are worth over £365m with an overall DfT contribution of £275m.

The Department announced in October that all other local transport schemes for which it had received funding bids had been assigned to one of two ‘pools’.

Schemes in the development pool were told that they would be invited to bid for funding later in 2011. Schemes in the ‘pre-qualification pool’ have been subject to further assessment to determine which of them can enter the development pool.

The Department today announced that 23 schemes will move into the development pool after the local authorities indicated an overall 42% saving can be found. Nine schemes from the pre-qualification group and two schemes which have been withdrawn by the promoter have not been moved to the development pool and are no longer being considered for funding in this spending review period.

Decisions on these schemes will be made by the end of 2011.

The schemes which have moved to the development pool are:

• A43 Corby Link Road
• Luton Town Centre Transport Scheme
• Darlaston Strategic Development Area Access Scheme (Walsall)
• Camborne-Pool-Redruth Transport Package
• A164 Humber Bridge to Beverley Improvement
• Northern Road Bridge (Portsmouth)
• Kingskerswell By-pass (South Devon Link Road)
• South Bristol Link Phases 1&2
• Worcester Integrated Transport Strategy
• A452 Chester Road Access Improvements
• Lincoln Eastern Bypass
• South Yorkshire Bus Rapid Transit (Northern Route)
• Morpeth Northern Bypass
• Tipner Interchange (Portsmouth)
• Coventry-Nuneaton Rail Upgrade
• South Essex Rapid Transit
• Bus Rapid Transit North Fringe to Hengrove (Bristol)
• Croxley Rail Link (Hertfordshire)
• Elmbridge Transport (Gloucestershire)
• A4184 Evesham (Abbey) Bridge Maintenance (Worcestershire)
• A45 Westbound Bridge Maintenance (Solihull)
• London Road Bridge Maintenance (Derby)
• Leeds Inner Ring Road Maintenance

The nine pre-qualification pool schemes which will not be funded in this spending review period are:

• A509 Isham Bypass (Northamptonshire)
• Watford Junction Interchange
• Castleford Town Centre Integrated Transport Scheme
• A24 Ashington to Southwater Improvement (West Sussex)
• A61 Penistone Road Smart Route (Sheffield)
• Stafford Western Access Improvements
• Tyne & Wear Bus Corridor Improvement – Phase 1
• A338 Bournemouth Spur Road Maintenance
• A38(M) Tame Viaduct Maintenance (Birmingham)