House of Commons Transport Committee The major road network Eighth Report of Session 2009–10 Report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 24 March 2010 HC 505 [Incorporating HC 533, Session 2009-09] Published on 30 March 2010 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £0.00 The Transport Committee The Transport Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Transport and its associated public bodies. Current membership Mrs Louise Ellman MP (Labour/Co-operative, Liverpool Riverside) (Chair) Mr David Clelland MP (Labour, Tyne Bridge) Rt Hon Jeffrey M Donaldson MP (Democratic Unionist, Lagan Valley) Mr Philip Hollobone MP (Conservative, Kettering) Mr John Leech MP (Liberal Democrat, Manchester, Withington) Mr Eric Martlew MP (Labour, Carlisle) Mark Pritchard MP (Conservative, The Wrekin) Ms Angela C Smith MP (Labour, Sheffield, Hillsborough) Sir Peter Soulsby MP (Labour, Leicester South) Graham Stringer MP (Labour, Manchester Blackley) Mr David Wilshire MP (Conservative, Spelthorne) The following was also a member of the Committee during the period covered by this report: Sammy Wilson MP (Democratic Unionist, East Antrim) Powers The Committee is one of the departmental select committees, the powers of which are set out in House of Commons Standing Orders, principally in SO No 152. These are available on the Internet via www.parliament.uk. Publications The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the Internet at www.parliament.uk/transcom. Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Annette Toft (Clerk), Adrian Jenner (Second Clerk), David Davies (Committee Specialist), Marek Kubala (Inquiry Manager), Alison Mara (Senior Committee Assistant), Jacqueline Cooksey (Committee Assistant), Stewart McIlvenna (Committee Support Assistant) and Hannah Pearce (Media Officer). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the Transport Committee, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 6263; the Committee’s email address is [email protected] 1 Contents Report Page 1 Introduction 3 2 Current road policy 4 3 The wider transport policy context 6 4 The current road network 10 Coverage and capacity 10 The standard of major roads 11 Management and maintenance 12 De-trunking 14 Strategic oversight 16 5 Investment and funding 17 The financial climate 17 Rates of return and assessment methods 18 Funding mechanisms 20 The national level 20 The regional level 21 6 Congestion and capacity 22 Maintenance work and congestion 23 Cost of congestion 23 Forecasting traffic growth 25 To build or not to build 26 Using the existing road network more effectively 28 7 Conclusion 31 Conclusions and recommendations 33 Annex: Classification of road types 37 Formal Minutes 38 Witnesses 41 List of written evidence 42 List of Reports from the Committee during the current Parliament 43 3 1 Introduction 1. The major road network is defined by the Department for Transport as “the network of motorways, trunk roads and principal roads that serve the country’s strategic transport needs.”1 We have accepted this definition for the purpose of our inquiry. Motorways and trunk roads (nationally significant A-roads)2 managed by the Highways Agency make up approximately 20% of the major road network. The remaining 80% of the major road network consists of principal roads—other A-roads managed by local authorities.3 2. Roads policy and maintenance is a devolved matter apart from issues such as signage and driver training standards. The Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland Executive are therefore responsible for roads in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.4 As a consequence, this report is concerned only with the major road network in England. 3. In total, there are 187,000 miles of roads in England, of which nearly 22,000 miles are major roads.5 Just 4,500 miles of these are motorways or trunk roads, managed by the Highways Agency.6 Local authorities are responsible for the remaining 165,000 miles of public roads, many of which are vital in connecting small communities and isolated towns with the major network.7 The Annex sets out the Department for Transport’s classification of different types of roads in greater detail, and Table 1 below provides an overview of the lengths of different types of major roads. Table 1: Major road lengths by type England Great Britain Miles % of total Miles % of total Highways Agency Motorway 1,845 8.4% 2,186 7.0% Dual carriageway 1,626 7.4% 2,156 6.9% Of which: Urban 122 0.6% 165 0.5% Rural 1,504 6.9% 1,991 6.4% Single carriageway 1,033 4.7% 3,209 10.3% Of which: Urban 55 0.2% 97 0.3% Rural 979 4.5% 3,112 10.0% Total Highways Agency 4,505 20.6% 7,551 24.2% Local authority managed Motorway 25 0.1% 25 0.1% Principal roads - dual carriageway 2,477 11.3% 2,775 8.9% Of which: Urban 1,464 6.7% 1,644 5.3% Rural 1,013 4.6% 1,131 3.6% Principal roads - single carriageway 14,905 68.0% 20,873 66.8% Of which: Urban 4,374 20.0% 4,996 16.0% Rural 10,531 48.1% 15,877 50.8% Total local authority managed 17,408 79.4% 23,674 75.8% Total major roads 21,913 100.0% 31,225 100.0% . Source: Department for Transport, Road Statistics Great Britain 2008 1 Annex 2 Motorways and trunk roads are also referred to as the Strategic Road Network. 3 See Ev 98 4 Ev 98 5 The figure of 31,261 miles, quoted in the terms of reference refers to Great Britain rather than England. 6 Transport Statistics Great Britain 2009: Road lengths—data tables, http://www.dft.gov.uk 7 Almost all motorways are trunk motorways under Highways Agency control except for short lengths of principal motorway (25 miles in total) under local authority control. See Table 1. 4 4. Major roads under local authority control are the 17,408 miles of principal roads, some of which are former trunk roads which have been ‘de-trunked’, that is transferred from the Highways Agency to local authority control. Trunk roads came into being with the 1936 Trunk Roads Act,8 but with the 1998 White Paper, A new deal for transport: better for everyone, the policy of managing all strategically important roads centrally by the Highways Agency was reversed.9 The White Paper announced that, of the then 9,356 miles of trunk roads, around 70% had been identified as nationally important routes.10 The remaining 30% were considered to be of greater local and regional significance, and control of these was therefore transferred to local authorities. It was intended that de-trunking would allow local transport authorities to better integrate these roads with transport policies for their areas as part of local transport plans. 5. It is now more than a decade since the publication of the White Paper. We launched this inquiry in order to assess what had been achieved since 1998, and what still needs to be done to ensure that England’s major road network is as effective as possible in supporting the UK economy and meeting the travel needs of individuals, while supporting sustainable development. 6. We would like to thank those organisations and individuals who gave evidence to our inquiry. We are also grateful to our Specialist Advisers, Dr David Quarmby and Professor Jon Shaw.11 2 Current road policy 7. The major road network is the most important part of the UK’s transport infrastructure. The evidence we received concurred in the view that a well functioning, effective major road network is vital for the UK economy and for meeting the travel needs of individual road users. 8. Since the 1998 White Paper, a number of policy and strategy documents on the major road network have emerged.12 In 2003, the Department for Transport published Managing our roads which set out to identify the challenges likely to affect the road network over the next 20–30 years. This document made clear that capacity improvements to the existing road network, rather than the construction of new roads, would take priority: …we cannot continue to try to build our way out of all the problems we face. Instead, we should seek to make far better use of the capacity available. We must also take 8 In 1936, 30 roads were identified as trunk roads and responsibility for them passed to the then Ministry of Transport. Over time, more roads were added to the trunk road network, either through legislation or as a result of construction. In 1994, the Highways Agency was created, and responsibility for trunk roads was transferred to it. 9 Department for Transport, A New deal for Transport: Better for everyone, Cm 3950,1998, p 59 10 The White Paper quotes distances in kilometres, thus referring to 15,057 kilometres of trunk roads. 11 Dr David Quarmby resigned as Specialist Advisor to the Committee on 24 June following his appointment as Chairman of the RAC Foundation. Professor Jon Shaw was appointed as Specialist Advisor on 24 June. A declaration of interests made by Dr Quarmby can be found in the formal minutes of the Committee meeting on 20 May, and Professor Shaw’s declaration can be found in the minutes for 24 June 2009.