Road improvement plans set out by Department for Transport

Confirmation of Incentive Fund to allocate money to local authorities.

The Department for Transport has unveiled plans to tackle repairs on the country’s road networks.

Roads Minister, Andrew Jones MP, expanded on the Government’s plans at the Future Highways Conference 2015 which was held at The Oval in London.

In his speech, Mr Jones, spoke about his “determination” to deal with the problem of potholes on roads and his commitment to improving the overall network ties in with the £15Bn investment promise made in December by the Government.

Improving the country’s roads and the potholes that are found in some of them is also something on the agenda, with significant funding announced to remove this problem.

It is something that was written in the Conservative Manifesto prior to the General Election and Mr Jones said: “It is a long-term investment plan that we will be sticking to.”

The manifesto reiterates the £15Bn investment which will cover £6Bn in the northern road network including the dualling and widening of the A1 north of Newcastle.

In the manifesto, it says: “We will take action to tackle some of the most notorious and longstanding problems on our road network.

“We will add 1,300 extra lane miles to our roads, improve over 60 problem junctions and continue to provide enough funding to fix around 18 million potholes nationwide between 2015 and 2021.”

Described as a “menace” to road users, the issues of potholes and roads that are not maintained can cause accident and damage vehicles as well as the economy.

Mr Jones continued: “Though local authorities are responsible for the local roads which are worst affected, the Government is stepping in with funding so that we can get on with the backlog of repairs.”

In particular, the Government is making changes to the way in which funding for road repairs is allocated to local authorities, as the Roads Minister believes the current system doesn’t incentivise local authorities enough to keep their roads in the best conditions.

Already, more than 30 projects in the country, ranging from road improvements to bridge repairs have been allocated funding to the tune of £275M and under new Government plans, £578M has been reserved for a special Challenge Fund, which will enable local authorities to compete for special one-off projects.

The local authorities that perform will be the ones most likely to benefit from the £578M, with Mr Jones saying: “Authorities that spend money on roads efficiently will be rewarded with extra funds to keep up the good work, while authorities with a history of inefficiency will receive comparatively less money.

“Over time, we expect that all authorities will improve, but I understand that some need time.”

Because of this, the changes will be made gradually, so that by the 2018-19 financial year, more than 25% of funding will be given out on the basis of competition or performance.

Although these plans have previously been announced, what has been unclear is how local authorities will be rated.

It has now been unveiled that this will take place in the form of a self-assessment questionnaire that has been put together by the Department for Transport and an independent expert.

Already sent out, the questionnaire will look to discover whether authorities are working together and collaborating ideas that could save time and money.

Mr Jones continued: “The new Incentive Fund is not designed to provoke competition between highways and authorities, but collaboration.

“There are over 150 different highways authorities, a huge amount of expertise and collective wisdom. But if authorities are not pooling that expertise, the taxpayer is not getting the best deal.”

The hope is that his system for allocating the Incentive Fund will ultimately result in local roads being of much better quality and condition.

A dry-run of the questionnaire will take place in the summer before its final version is distributed in autumn, when authorities will have a month to complete it in time for distribution of finances in the financial year of 2016-17.

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