The Road Surface Treatment Association (RSTA) has welcomed proposals to develop a five-year funding settlement for local roads similar to that provided for the national road network.
The proposals were revealed by the roads minister Jesse Norman at the recent Highways UK event.
A business case is currently being worked on. It will examine the possibility of the Department for Transport (DfT) securing a long-term combined capital and revenue settlement. Such a settlement has long been resisted by the Treasury to provide the capital funding and will also require the support of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government who provide local authorities with the revenue funding for local roads. Neither funding streams are currently ringfenced but the ringfencing of Vehicle Excise Duty from 2020 for strategic roads suggests a dedicated fund might be possible for local roads too.
Welcoming the proposals, Howard Robinsons RSTA chief executive said: “We have long argued for a confirmed, long-term funding settlement for the local road network. This would provide a necessary level of certainty that allows local authorities to plan and implement long-term road maintenance programmes rather than play a never-ending game of pothole catch-up.
We hope that the business case currently being developed underlines the need for the country’s most important infrastructure asset to have the funding that it needs and deserves.”