Guidance: Transport business case: assessment and process procedures

The Department for Transport (DfT) is committed to being open and transparent. This document sets out how DfT assesses the business case for major investments and supports ministers as they make decisions on them. This will enable those outside of DfT to understand and engage with what we do. It will also provide scheme promoters and their specialists with comprehensive guidance to make it easier and simpler to understand and engage with our decision-making process.

Ministers consider the evidence presented to them in a business case when making decisions on major investments. The business case is built up over time and contains all the relevant information regarding a proposed scheme investment set out in 5 dimensions, consistent with the Treasury Green Book, specifically to show whether a proposal:

The strategic dimension describes how the transport proposal contributes to achieving strategic priorities and how it aligns with existing portfolios, programmes and projects in DfT, across government and in the geographical area(s) of scope. It should make a compelling, evidence-based case to establish whether a transport intervention is needed either now or in the future. Further useful information is in the:

Transport business cases: the levelling up toolkit

DfT’s levelling up toolkit provides a structure to the strategic dimension of the business case that is applied to transport investments and the levelling up agenda. It helps business case authors to: