Money for national and local roads
The RAC Foundation has broadly welcomed the transport-related announcements made in this year’s Budget, which included:
- Confirmation of the National Roads Fund which will ring fence VED income and be worth £28.8 billion between 2020 and 2025
- £25.3 billion of this money will go to Highways England to fund Road Investment Strategy 2 (RIS2)
- The balance of £3.5 billion will be used on the Major Road Network and for Large Local Major scheme (exact split to be decided)
- £150 million will be allocated by bidding process to improve local pinch points in 2021/22 and 2022/23
- £420 million to be made available in this financial year for local road maintenance in England. £80 million more will be allocated to the devolved administrations under the Barnett Formula
The Chancellor also confirmed that fuel duty will remain frozen.
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said:
“The commitment to ringfencing VED income from 2020 for spending on England’s most important roads over the second Road Investment Strategy period is so important for building confidence in the supply chain.
“Extra cash to help councils fill in potholes (and fix a few pinch-points along the way) can’t go amiss, though motorists might wonder whether this marks the start of a longer-term strategy – as the National Infrastructure Commission has recommended – or just the latest in a series of temporary patches. And tech investment in the likes of the Stephenson challenge should feed through into better, cleaner cars.
“But might the end of the Government’s love affair with private finance sideswipe the programmes for the Stonehenge Tunnel and the Lower Thames Crossing, which were conceived as PFIs and might now need substantial, and time-consuming, financial re-engineering?”
ENDS
Contacts:
Philip Gomm – Head of External Communications – RAC Foundation
020 7747 3445 | 07711 776448 | [email protected]
Notes to editors:
The RAC Foundation is a transport policy and research organisation that explores the economic, mobility, safety and environmental issues relating to roads and their users. The Foundation publishes independent and authoritative research with which it promotes informed debate and advocates policy in the interest of the responsible motorist.
The RAC Foundation is a registered charity, number 1002705.
All the RAC Foundation’s work is available on its website: www.racfoundation.org