The councillor overseeing Warwickshire County Council's ill-fated 'Bridge to Nowhere' has confirmed it could now cost £80 million – and he's not sorry for letting the cat out of the bag.

That budget, set in a confidential meeting in December 2025, is more than double the £38 million estimated when detailed plans for a bridge straddling the A46 at Stoneleigh Junction near Kenilworth came forward.

The project has been blighted by problems associated with a lack of available backfill material to support the wingwalls, resulting in a redesign and a five-year delay to the reconfigured junction opening. To make matters worse, the cash-strapped county council is on the hook for every penny overspent.

Having failed in a bid to make contractors Colas responsible for the overruns, the council made an extra £16 million available in January 2025, a figure that was meant to have been kept confidential but was accidentally let slip by then-deputy leader Peter Butlin in a public meeting.

The situation rumbled on after Reform UK took power in May 2025 with even more money to get the project finished approved in another secret session for all councillors in December 2025.

The figures were not published due to "commercial sensitivity" – the thinking being that if Colas knows how much the council has set aside, that could affect negotiations.

Work started again in early 2026 with portfolio holder for transport and planning Cllr Stephen Shaw insisting the project remained on track for the new finish date of summer 2027 in a live radio interview with BBC Coventry & Warwickshire in early August.

When asked about costs he reiterated that the details remained "commercially sensitive" but that the overall budget was up to £80 million, although he said Reform UK was "more than confident we will be within that".

Citing high inflation costs, downtime and delays, traffic management and redesigns, he said: "It is commercially sensitive, we are still working out the last few numbers, dealing with Colas. All I can say at the moment is that it will cost below the £80 million."

In an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Cllr Shaw said Reform "had to pick up the pieces" on a project that it inherited and that the ballooned budget still represented "the best value for money for the people of Warwickshire".

"If we had given it to National Highways it would have been anywhere between £120 million and £140 million," he said.

"We care about taxpayers' money, we have been handed a bad deal and we have done everything possible to sort it out."

The council initially contributed a little more than £12 million to a project that was enabled by a range of funding partners but more than £54 million could now leave the Shire Hall coffers.

Asked whether it had been an unwitting error to reveal the amount on radio, Cllr Shaw insisted: "Absolutely not. The people of Warwickshire want transparency, we will give them that transparency.

"We are not here to hide things from the public. We are here to make sure people know where their money is going and get the best deal for them at the same time."

Asked whether he had the blessing of council leader Councillor George Finch (Reform UK, Bedworth Central) to reveal the figures, Cllr Shaw replied: "No, but when George heard the interview he was fully behind it.

"He wants people to know what is happening in the council, where their money is going. It is not the council's money, it is taxpayers' money.

"Sometimes we get a rough deal from what the Tories have done, we have to get the best solution out of it. This was the best solution."

Councillors are bound by the council's code of conduct which precludes them from releasing confidential information but Cllr Shaw was not concerned by any potential consequences, insisting he had done nothing wrong and that the figure was certain to be publicised at some point anyway.

"I have already spoken to officers, they fully support me on this. It is great to actually get it out there," he said.

"Colas have been absolutely fantastic with us, we have a good relationship now. It (the project) should have been done well before our time, this was a Conservative mess up and like HS2 it is costing us a hell of a lot of money.

"There is no point cancelling it. It is a lot of money but it is the best deal we could get and there is light at the end of the tunnel. It will be finished under our administration."