Select committee: Transport Committee
Conclusion 7
Sixth Report - Strategic road investment
Published 27 Jul 2023
Paragraph 35
Addressed to Department for Transport
Transport Committee Strategic road investment All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The existing Strategic Road Network is ageing and requires significant renewal work in places, while many users want to see better day-to-day maintenance and upkeep of the network. Future investment should be focused on renewing older parts of the SRN and ensuring that resources are available to run the network in a way which 26 Strategic road investment better meets the needs of the drivers and industries that rely on it. The portfolios for RIS 3, RIS 4 and beyond should prioritise investment in the maintenance, renewal and resilience of existing assets over brand new projects.
From: Transport Committee, Sixth Report - Strategic road investment (HC 904), paragraph 35, 27 July 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 20 October 2023 (deadline 27 September 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response to the Committee's report on strategic road investment includes agreement on two recommendations, partial agreement on two, and a position of "notes" on four others, with a stated commitment to publish its RIS3 investment priorities later in 2023.
- On maintenance, the government "agrees" that future investment should prioritise renewal of existing assets, stating that decisions on the balance of spending are made through the statutory RIS process, with more detail in the draft RIS3 "later in 2023".
- On fuelling the future vehicle fleet, the government "partially agrees", pointing to its EV Infrastructure Strategy and a zero emission HGV infrastructure strategy that is "expected to be published in 2024".
- On a live project dashboard, the government "agrees" but says a genuinely 'live' system "would not be practical", and will work with National Highways and the ORR "to explore the opportunity for more frequent public project reporting in one place".
- On scaling back complex enhancement projects, the government "notes" the recommendation, saying the ORR and IPA "did not suggest fundamental changes" for RIS2 and that larger schemes "inevitably have longer delivery periods" across road periods.