Written evidence submitted by Highways England (MTP0079)
Introduction Highways England is the government-owned company responsible for operating, maintaining and improving England’s 4,300 miles of motorways and major A-roads, the Strategic Road Network.
The government sets the objectives and funding for Highways England through a periodic Road Investment Strategy (RIS), which covers a five-year Road Period. In response, Highways England publishes a Strategic Business Plan and Delivery Plan setting out how it will deliver the RIS. The government committed to a five-year funding settlement to allow Highways England and its supply chain to plan their work efficiently and ensure the confidence needed for them both to invest in people, equipment and technology; growing the skills and capability necessary to deliver the scale of improvements planned to the network.
The first RIS was published in 2014 and applied to the first Road Period, 2015 to 2020. RIS2 was published in March 2020 and applied to the second Road Period, 2020 to 2025. We are now gathering evidence to inform RIS3, which will apply to the Road Period starting in 2025.
Created in 2015, Highways England delivered £15.2 billion of investment between 2015 and 2020. During this first Road Period we:
Started work on 67 major road schemes, opening 36, with 21 of these schemes opening ahead of schedule; Stayed within our funding agreement; Delivered £1.4 billion of efficiencies; Provided £2.50 of public benefit for every £1 we spent on our major schemes; Made the SRN safer and reduced casualties in line with our ambitious targets to cut the number of people killed or seriously injured on our network by 40%; Invested over £650 million in projects which have reduced noise, alleviated flooding, protected biodiversity, reduced air pollution and provided alternative routes for walkers and cyclists. This includes 113 safety schemes, 160 cycling schemes, 124 biodiversity schemes and 1174 noise mitigation schemes; and Improved how we work with our supply chain, creating new commercial models, driving efficiency savings, investment and innovations.
In April 2020, we entered the second Road Period and we started to deliver RIS2. We are investing £27.4 billion into England’s Strategic Road Network over the next five years.
The Strategic Road Network The Strategic Road Network (the ‘SRN’) is an important part of our national infrastructure. Our motorways and major A-roads provide essential connectivity across the country and help to connect the Union.
Our roads provide direct access to every part of the country. They connect our economic regions, people with employment, businesses with international gateways vital for trade, and they boost the construction and maintenance supply chain. Our network also plays an important social role, bringing people together and connecting communities and regions. The United Kingdom has some of the safest roads in the world. The number of road deaths per million inhabitants is lower in the UK than in almost every country within Europe.
The SRN – key points: Over four million journeys are made every day on the SRN, with 95 billion miles travelled on our roads each year; More people use our network than any other form of transport. The SRN carries three times more people than the UK rail network, and accounts for 34% of all road traffic and 68% of all heavy goods vehicle journeys by distance; Sectors heavily reliant on the SRN employ 7.4 million people and contribute £314 billion to the UK economy; The SRN valuation in the 2019/2020 Annual Report was £81 billion for roads, £31 billion for structures, £13 billion for land and £1 billion for technology; and The SRN includes 4,300 miles of motorways and major A-roads o 10,000 miles of carriageways o 20,000 bridges and other structures o 100,000 street lights o 150,000 signs o 3,500 electronic messaging signs o 70,000 sensors, including traffic sensors.
Overview Highways England welcomes the publication of the National Infrastructure Strategy (NIS) and the Construction Playbook, and we fully support the important role that infrastructure will play in the post-COVID 19 economic recovery.
As a key infrastructure delivery partner of the government, our plans for this second Road Period (2020-2025) and beyond will see us play an important role in realising the priority outcomes set out in the NIS. Our operation, maintenance and improvement of the SRN over the next five years and beyond will support: Post-COVID 19 recovery and rebuilding the economy; The government’s ‘levelling-up’ agenda by connecting all parts of the country, the Union, and provision of better access to international gateways in support of trade; Decarbonisation and adapting to climate change; Delivering better infrastructure more efficiently; and Protecting and enhancing the environment. In its second Road Investment Strategy (RIS2) published in March 2020, the government set out its vision for a safer, more reliable and greener SRN that uses new technology, supports the country’s economy, and is an integrated part of the national transport network. The recent publication of the NIS reaffirms these concepts. In the second Road Period, Highways England are focused on delivering these outcomes with key considerations for road infrastructure including:
Outcomes for people: Our operation, maintenance and improvement of the SRN is focussed on the outcomes we deliver for everyone that travels, works on, or lives alongside our roads. Our approach to infrastructure has our customers at the centre, recognising the positive outcomes that our roads enable; goods, food and medicines reach people efficiently, people travel to work efficiently, people meet their friends and families, and people get home safe and well.
Operations and maintenance: Infrastructure enhancement projects are often higher-profile and more visible than operations and maintenance. We recognise the importance of maintaining our roads and associated structures to keep them in good condition, so that they can operate safely and efficiently. This is good for journeys, good for the economy, and good for safety.
Environment and sustainability: High quality road infrastructure can support good environmental outcomes, particularly as vehicles become cleaner and more efficient. Highways England is committed to ensuring no net loss of biodiversity across all our work, ensuring that our roads are sensitive to place, supporting the commitment to deliver net zero by 2050, as well as addressing air quality challenges on our network.
Efficiency: Driving greater efficiencies is a central tenet for establishing five-year road investment strategies. Our plans for the second Road Period include delivering £2.23 billion of efficiencies. We will make improvements to how we procure and manage our suppliers, as well as to how we plan our own maintenance, operations and renewals. All money saved through efficiencies will be reinvested into the SRN.
Skills and jobs: The government has set out an ambitious approach to infrastructure and Highways England is playing its part in its delivery. A key element of our approach to infrastructure delivery is through the development of our own in-house skills as well building the confidence in the supply chain that enables our delivery partners to invest in apprenticeships and skills. Five-year funding cycles help to build that confidence through surety of work. During the first Road Period we worked with the supply chain to build capacity. Our modern approach to procurement means that we are working with our supply chain with a greater sense of partnership, whilst also incentivising good performance. Our work in this second Road Period will sustain up to 64,000 jobs in the construction sector.
Innovation and technology: This is a key theme for this Road Period and beyond. We see real opportunities to innovate and deploy technology in all aspects of our work. We have a long-term plan to: prepare our roads for connected and autonomous vehicles; support the roll out of electric vehicles; bring digital design technology to our infrastructure projects; use innovative, modular and offsite construction methods; and digital communication with road users. Long-term planning: Five-year funding cycles enable us to plan for the long term. In preparation for the third Road Period (2025-2030) we are already starting to investigate and develop potential future schemes. Looking further ahead, we expect, and are planning for, advances over the next 30 years that will revolutionise transportation, road travel and personal and commercial mobility. Our roads, our infrastructure and even our ways of working will need to change to embrace and enable new ways of travelling. This will also include adapting to the challenge of climate change, supporting low carbon transport, increasing automation and digital technologies, and responding to changing travel preferences.
In this written submission we set out more detail around our infrastructure priorities for the second Road Period (2020-2025) and beyond, and include several case studies reflecting our approach to infrastructure delivery (Annex A). We have not sought to answer all the questions set out in the inquiry’s terms of reference, instead we have focused on transport infrastructure priorities, factors influencing the costs of transport infrastructure, and capacity and skills in the sector. Transport infrastructure strategy and priorities
Last year, Highways England published its Strategic Business Plan1 and Delivery Plan2. The plans set out our strategic priorities and delivery intent for the second Road Period (2020- 2025).
Over the next five years we will:
Deliver £14.2 billion of road enhancement schemes on our motorways and major A- roads; Invest £10.8 billion in keeping our roads, structures and assets safe, well-maintained and operating efficiently; Drive nearly £1 billion of improvements through our designated funds33 on projects that will have wider benefits for customer, communities, the environment and the economy; Prepare for the third road period (2025-2030) and plan for a network that meets the needs of the country, our customers and neighbouring communities.
Our Delivery Plan 2020-2025 commits us to:
Open 52 enhancement schemes, many of which will improve access to ports and airports; Start work on 12 new major road projects; Ensure that all parts of the country benefit from our work; Get motorways ready for digital vehicles; Improve accessibility for walkers, cyclists and horse-riders; Deliver no net loss of biodiversity across our activities; Provide a benefit of £27 billion to customers through our enhancement programme; Save our customers over 20 million vehicle hours tackling congestion; Help 7,500 households through noise mitigation schemes; Sustain up to 64,000 jobs in the construction industry; and Deliver £2.23 billion of efficiencies to the taxpayer.
These investments align with our strategic organisational priorities for the next five years:
Safer roads: Safety remains Highways England’s first imperative and any death on our roads is one too many. While our roads are some of the safest in the world, we recognise there is always an opportunity to make journeys safer, easier and more reliable for users.
Over the second Roads Period we will keep all our infrastructure safe, dependable and durable, recognising the important role that well-designed, well-constructed and well- maintained infrastructure plays in promoting safer, free-flowing journeys and safer working on the network.
By 2025, we want to have reduced the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads by 50%. Achieving this target will keep us on course to reach our goal of zero harm on our network by 2040.
COVID 19: Our response to the COVID 19 pandemic has been to ensure the safety of everyone that works or travels on our roads, and for those who work on our construction sites. We have ensured that our network has been able to support those essential journeys for key workers and the distribution of food, supplies and medicines.
We have adapted ways of working across our operations and enhancement projects to ensure that they can continue safely. Highways England has taken advantage of lower traffic levels to accelerate maintenance, renewal and enhancement activity across the network, where possible. We have innovated on some project sites to enable us to progress our work, whilst maintaining the safety of the project and supply chain teams. Adapting ways of working to maintain social distancing has increased costs for some projects, however, these are not considered to be material and are being managed through the contractual relationship the Highways England has with its supply chain.
Whilst overall traffic levels have been lower across the SRN since the start of the pandemic, the change has not been uniform. Freight traffic remains close to, if not exceeding, normal levels.
We are working closely with the Department for Transport (‘DfT’) and other stakeholders to build a more detailed understanding of how COVID 19 may affect future transport demand. High quality road infrastructure makes an important contribution to the economy and UK connectivity, and we expect that to remain the case post-COVID 19.
Well-operated and maintained roads: Maintaining the safe and efficient operation of our roads and associated infrastructure is good for our customers and good for the economy.
Over the next five years we are investing £10.8 billion in repairing and replacing road surfaces, bridges, barriers, signage and other assets, while keeping traffic moving on our roads 24/7, 365 days a year. We will increase investment in renewal activity to pre-empt problems, particularly across concrete roads, our largest structures and safety barriers.
We work collaboratively with local resilience forums as a Tier 2 Responder under the Civil Contingences Act. When civil contingency events are declared, we ensure that our roads continue to operate efficiently and safely. We continue to work as a partner of the Kent Resilience Forum to support efficient and safe traffic management during any border disruption in Kent.
Improving road infrastructure across the country: The SRN connects the whole country, our regions and our nations. Our Delivery Plan 2020-2025 builds on the progress we made in the first Road Period and ensures that funding is available to plan and deliver in the national interest.
In the second Road Period (2020-2025) we are continuing to deliver our programme of road infrastructure enhancements, including completing or progressing projects started in the first Road Period (2015-2020) as well as starting new projects. Our capital portfolio includes a balance of transformational and smaller-scale schemes, strategic investments, and regional investment: Transformational schemes: Lower Thames Crossing4, A303 Stonehenge5 and A666. The A147 was completed in Spring 2020 ahead of schedule and on budget.
Enhancement schemes: We will complete 25 schemes and start work on 12 new major road projects. Regional delivery: We will be progressing 19 road infrastructure projects across the North of England, 27 across the Midlands and East and 23 across the South.
As well as improving journeys for our customers these improvements will better connect all regions of the country and the United Kingdom, enhance our access to international gateways, and sustain up to 64,000 jobs in the construction supply chain. Our schemes will improve resilience and connections between ports, helping prepare for the forecast increased demand for freight capacity. Over 27 million vehicles are forecast to use our Lower Thames Crossing in its first year of operation, 4.5 million of which will be heavy goods vehicles (HGVs).
Highways England expects to deliver £2.23 billion of efficiencies by 2025, which will ensure that road-users will see even more investment for their money.
Smart motorways: We will deliver the actions set out in the government’s ‘Smart motorway safety evidence stocktake and action plan’8. These actions include provision of additional infrastructure: the roll-out of stopped vehicle detection; conversion of dynamic hard shoulder to all-lane running; ten additional emergency areas on the M25; and improved visibility and signage of emergency areas.
Environment and sustainability: We recognize carbon reduction is a fundamental part of our plans and must be part of a wider strategy on environmental sustainability. As one of England’s largest landowners we have a strong focus on sustainability. We recognise the importance of the work we do to look after wildlife that lives alongside our network, and our work to protect and improve the environment for future generations.
We want our work not just to protect the environment, but to be good for it and enhance it wherever possible. We want our roads to work more harmoniously with the communities that live alongside them, and the built, natural and historic environments that surround them.
Over the next five years we will build on the progress we made in the first Road Period by: Supporting the government’s “Air quality plan for nitrogen dioxide” by ensuring our network is compliant with nitrogen dioxide limits in the shortest timescale possible; Improving the quality of life for those close to our roads by reducing noise, through low- noise surfacing, noise barriers and noise insulation; Reducing emissions from our vehicle fleet and from our network, including low energy lighting, energy efficiency measures at our maintenance depots; Designing our schemes and services to be energy efficient; Incentivising carbon reduction in the supply chain through procurement and using our carbon reporting tool; Ensuring no net loss of biodiversity across our portfolio of work; and Being respectful of place in designing infrastructure and incorporating roads sensitively into the landscape.
The road to net-zero: Our strategic roads play a critical role in today’s economy and will continue to do so in a net zero economy.
Highways England will publish its Net Zero Carbon Strategy in 2021. We will set out our plans to reduce our corporate carbon emissions, emissions from our construction and maintenance, and how we will support the government’s plans to reduce emissions from road users (tail pipe).
Corporate emissions: In the second Road Period we have a target to reduce our carbon emissions resulting from our electricity consumption, fuel use and other day- to-day operational activities. We want this to be an ambitious target aligned with the Greening Government Commitments.
Construction emissions: Maintaining and improving our network is a carbon-intensive process. We will work in partnership with our supply chain to reduce carbon emissions from network-related activity. We will consider how we can incentivise the right behaviours and activities through our commercial contracts. We will use our designated funds for initiatives to reduce energy consumption and waste associated with our work, and promote the generation of renewable energy on our land.
Tail pipe emissions: We will continue to work with departments across government and with a wide range of stakeholders to support, develop, trial and fund emerging technologies, materials and approaches with carbon reduction and/or capture as the goal.
Our Delivery Plan 2020-2025 outlines our commitment to allocate investment from our Environment and Wellbeing Designated Fund to reduce the carbon emissions associated with construction, use, management and operation of our network. Over the second Road Period, we will prioritise projects that reduce energy consumption and waste, as well as generate renewable energy. For example:
Renewing road lighting with LED lighting; Running renewable energy schemes that reduce demand from the grid and provide reliable supply, for example using solar panels; Planting trees for capturing carbon; and Piloting ultra-low emission or electric vehicles that have the capability to meet the operational needs of our traffic officers.
Long term planning: Five-year funding cycles enable us to plan for the long term, and ensures value for money for our customers, the taxpayer and the country by driving efficiencies.
Working closely with the DfT, we have identified over 30 ‘pipeline’ schemes for consideration for the third Road Period (2025-30). This is partly informed by our existing route strategies process that identifies current and future requirements on the SRN. Over the next five years, we are starting development work to help inform the value, feasibility and prioritisation of these schemes.
Looking further ahead, we expect, and are planning for, advances over the next 30 years that will revolutionise transportation, road travel and personal and commercial mobility. Our roads, our infrastructure and even our ways of working will need to change to embrace and enable new ways of travelling. In our research paper ‘Connecting the Country’99, we identified the trends which will shape the SRN and influence our operations over the next 30 years and beyond. Using these trends, we explored the potential future scenarios and what we believe is most likely to happen. This will include adapting to the challenge of climate change, supporting low carbon transport, increasing automation and digital technologies, and responding to changing travel preferences.
Factors influencing the cost of transport infrastructure in the UK Highways England has taken a number of steps to deliver infrastructure projects more efficiently, recognising the benefits that this brings to the taxpayer. Over the first Road Period (2015-2020), we delivered £1.4 billion of efficiencies and provided £2.50 of public benefit for every £1 we spent on our major schemes. Over the second Road Period (2020- 2025) we will deliver £2.23 billion of efficiencies. All money saved through efficiencies will be reinvested into the SRN, delivering greater value to the taxpayer Driving efficiencies through our contracting models: We continue to make improvements to how we procure and manage our suppliers, as well as to how we plan our own maintenance, operations and renewals.
The way we work with our suppliers is changing. In the second Road Period our contracting models (including Asset Delivery, our Alliance Model and Regional Delivery Partnerships) will help us work more efficiently with our supply chain. We will reward suppliers based on performance, and encourage innovation. Our funding certainty means we can provide a reliable pipeline of work, helping suppliers invest in new techniques and training to provide greater efficiency and develop a lasting skills legacy.
Asset Delivery: For our routine maintenance and the delivery of capital renewal and improvement schemes, Asset Delivery enables clearer decision making as we bring some of the key early investment strategies and decisions in-house. It enables us to directly manage maintenance, operations and scheme delivery. Through this, we will improve our asset knowledge and increase our control, including over schemes and the planning and scheduling of our activities. Regional Delivery Partnerships: For developing, designing and constructing highway enhancement projects, we set up our Regional Delivery Partnership model to work with our supply chain to improve safety and journeys on our roads. It contains incentives for: shorter and better management of roadworks; buying more efficiently and locally; using regional capability to benefit the region; and encouraging innovation. It represents a fundamental change in the way we deliver road projects. It will be performance rather than cost-based, focusing on building the right projects with the best outcomes for our customers, and our neighbouring communities and the wider network.
Alliance Model: For our work to increase lane capacity on motorways, our Alliance Model uses a design and build approach to improve the design process and outputs, creating repeatable and stable delivery. One example of this is off- site and modular fabrication, which allows for quicker and cheaper construction through saving time and materials. It also minimises disruption to our customers and reduces our impact on the environment. Our model provides access to a framework of incentivised partners to design, assemble and manage all-lane running motorway technology. We have common objectives with our partners, with financial incentives available to them to innovate and succeed.
Understanding risks, inflation and efficiency: As projects are delivered, risks may materialise and the ability of funding to cover projects can vary. We believe we have the right balance of risk, contingency, inflation and efficiency, and that our programme of investment is deliverable. If delivery is in line with expectations, or inflation is lower than anticipated, there is scope to gradually release funds for re-investment in our network. Reducing design costs and construction time: In the second Road Period we will look to identify efficiencies in the early stages of our new enhancement projects (e.g. early design stages), when we have greater opportunity to influence the cost, as opposed to during construction phases.
We have already shortened the time it takes to develop and build enhancement schemes, and we will make further reductions by introducing the next generation of our Rapid Engineering Model. This will draw on data analytics and modular construction to reduce the design and build period of new schemes.
Our “Lean programme”10 will also focus on the areas that will provide the biggest benefit. We will ensure that our supply chain is trained in Lean, and we will integrate Lean maturity assessments into our supplier assessments for both design and construction.
We continue to develop our capability by introducing improved ways of working in the delivery of infrastructure projects, including: Adopting new and innovative methods of construction; Increasing our use of standardised components and processes, developing off-site modular solutions where appropriate. These techniques were used effectively in our delivery of the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon scheme; Implementing digital working practices through our Rapid Engineering Model to improve data quality; and Developing an integrated supply chain and improving resource usage and efficiency. Transport infrastructure capacity and skills During the first Road Period, Highways England invested in the development of our own in- house skills and expertise, and worked closely with supply chain partners to build their capacity. The government’s five-year road investment programmes have provided confidence within the supply chain to invest in technology and their workforce, with the focus on building skills and delivering apprenticeship programmes. Highways England is working with the Strategic Apprenticeship Taskforce to support the delivery of the government’s ‘Transport infrastructure skills strategy’. We have encouraged our supply chain to create apprenticeship opportunities through contractual requirements. During the first Road Period, our supply chain provided 765 apprenticeships across 40 business areas. Highways England also invested in our own skills base, recruiting over 300 apprentices and graduates in key capability areas, such as digital, project management, operational planning, commercial, finance and engineering. We have already strengthened our internal capability, creating a strong foundation for efficient delivery over the second Road Period. We have, for example, introduced commercial, legal, regulatory and project management skills from outside the sector. This will help us bring about culture change and better manage contracts across all our programmes. Our improved in‑house programme management capability will also help us improve planning and scheme delivery, as well as support our work with stakeholders, communities and our supply chain. We will build on this, in partnership with the supply chain, during the next road periods. Finally, we would highlight the importance of good communication and engagement skills in the infrastructure sector, reflecting the importance of building community consent for projects and effectively demonstrating the benefits to peoples’ lives. Annex A - Case studies In this section we set out three case studies that illustrate how we have, or will approach road infrastructure delivery. The case studies are:
A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon: delivery of this major road enhancement, including a focus on modular and innovative construction, environmental protection and enhancement and efficiency. Rapid Engineering Model: using technology to deliver more efficient road design and engineering solutions. Biodiversity: using designated funds to support our work on biodiversity.
The A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon The A14 is a vital road transport corridor between the North, the Midlands and the East of England; linking the A1 and M11 and providing freight access to key international ports. The scheme improves safety, tackles congestion, connects people and will unlock economic growth creating a positive legacy for future generations. The award-winning £1.4 billion scheme has provided much-needed connectivity and additional capacity on this strategic route. It was delivered eight months early and on budget. This scheme provided the opportunity to employ, upskill and train up to 14,000 people. Using innovative construction methods delivered close to £200 million of efficiency, saving time and money. Examples included:
Building bridge decks and parapets off-site, and installing them over single weekend of closures, instead of taking up to eight weeks. Integrated delivery teams to allow joined-up working and faster decision making. Minimised movement of material off-site by reusing on-site, contributing to a reduction of one million truck journeys on the road network. Use of latest technology such as drones for surveys, driverless earth movement vehicles, and digital mapping to design the scheme.
We used our designated funds to increase scheme benefits. Working in partnership with our supply chain and key stakeholders we funded several projects, including: Five schemes to improve connectivity and accessibility for walkers, cyclists and horse riders; Flooding interventions to provide resilience for local homes and a primary school; Autonomous dumper truck trials to increase safety and address the forecast shortage of on- site workers; and Research to improve the way we monitor and manage our concrete structures. We have aimed to leave a positive environmental legacy. We improved the habitats for many of the more vulnerable wildlife species, created over one square mile of new habitat in 18 areas, and planted twice as many trees and shrubs as were removed. We also built 24 wildlife tunnels across our scheme to give animals safe places to cross. To improve the impact of construction on the environment, we reduced the scheme’s carbon footprint by: Using renewable energy: We sourced 100% of energy used at our construction compounds from renewable sources; Local sourcing: We locally sourced, via borrow pits, most of the five million tonnes of materials needed to build the new road, reducing long-distance journeys. Using non-drinking water: For construction, we tried to only use non-drinking water from water treatment plants, borrow pits and local watercourses (up to a maximum of 20m³ per day) to minimise impact on the local drinking water supply. We also recycled water where we could, saving over 2,500m³. Reducing use of fossil fuel: Where possible, we used hybrid generators, solar- powered floodlights and hydrogen-powered vehicles. The CO2 emissions from the fuel we saved by using solar-powered floodlights alone is the equivalent of a new car being driven 110 times around the earth.
Rapid Engineering Model Our Rapid Engineering Model enables quicker development of our network through automatic digital design. Three‑dimensional topographic data is analysed alongside environmental data to help identify opportunities and risks within a specific project, or along an entire asset in our network. This has reduced design time from months to weeks, and means that scheme options can be produced and assessed much faster. We are digitising the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges to future proof our standards. This digital manual will enable the further development of our Rapid Engineering Model. The next generation of the model will reduce the cost and delivery time for major schemes, using data analytics and modular construction techniques. By providing a data‑driven approach to asset management, the model will also support business operations.
Highways England and biodiversity
During the second Road Period, we are creating more biodiverse new grasslands as standard across our schemes, covering hundreds of miles. Around 97% of all species rich grasslands had been lost in the last century and our new construction design standards could create substantial areas of biodiverse grasslands, stretching throughout England. £66 million from our designated funds will be used to help us achieve no net loss of biodiversity.
On all major schemes, contractors are now being instructed to follow a new Low Nutrient Grasslands policy aimed at keeping away the ‘bullying’ plant species which love high nutrient soil, and allowing wildflowers to thrive, creating vital habitat for insects and other wildlife. By adopting this new policy, Highways England is aiming to: improve safety by reducing the number of maintenance visits; reduce the carbon footprint through fewer maintenance visits; maximise grassland biodiversity of new construction projects; reduce long-term maintenance costs by reducing vegetation growth; and capitalise on potential cost savings by eliminating the need for topsoil import and haulage.
The increase in wildflowers and wider biodiversity should also provide some impressive visual displays, and help to connect people with nature and improve the wellbeing of millions of people using our roads every day.
Over the last few years a number of biodiversity schemes have been undertaken by Highways England including: Working with Cumbria Wildlife Trust to boost pollinator habitats alongside key A roads, including the A590 and A66. A Highways England wildflower scheme, the size of eight football pitches and visible during spring and summer along the A38 between Ashburton and Ivybridge in Devon. This adds to 10 hectares recently created along the A38 and A30 in Devon and Cornwall. On the verges and embankments of the A303 Stonehenge scheme, which recently received planning approval by the Secretary of State for Transport, we will create a flower-rich, six- mile long butterfly highway and large areas of species-rich chalk grassland.
February 2021
Endnotes
1 https://highwaysengland.co.uk/media/3i5c454q/strategic-business-plan-2020-25.pdf 2 https://highwaysengland.co.uk/media/vh0byhfl/5-year-delivery-plan-2020-2025-final.pdf 3 https://highwaysengland.co.uk/designated-funds/ 4 https://highwaysengland.co.uk/our-work/lower-thames-crossing/ 5 https://highwaysengland.co.uk/our-work/a303-stonehenge/ 6 https://highwaysengland.co.uk/our-work/north-west/a66-northern-trans-pennine/ 7 https://highwaysengland.co.uk/our-work/a14-cambridge-to-huntingdon/ 8 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/936811/smart- motorway-safety-evidence-stocktake-and-action-plan.pdf 9 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/666876/Conn ecting_the_country_Planning_for_the_long_term.pdf 10 https://highwaysengland.co.uk/industry/innovation/our-approach/#lean