The wasted cash is revealed in the latest agency annual report where it is listed as “fruitless payments.”

The report states: “During 2010-11, eight road schemes in the course of development were cancelled.

“This decision resulted in £42,142,300 of capitalised costs needing to be written off during the year.”

The biggest victim of the spending axe last October was the £1bn A14 Ellington to Fen Ditton scheme being worked-up by a Costain/Skanska joint venture under the Early Contractor Involvement initiative.

The other cancelled major projects worth more than £300m were:

One civil engineering contractor said: “These cuts were all about saving money but what about all the cash wasted on getting them this far?”