Economy

Each week the RAC Foundation publishes its latest fuel fact sheet which sets out the latest pump prices, rates of fuel taxation and cost of crude oil.

In response to a call from HM Treasury the RAC Foundation has made a representation on the forthcoming Autumn 2024 Budget. Its focus is on what, if anything, should be considered to replace falling

English councils made a combined profit of £923 million from their parking activities in 2022-23. This was up from the £854 million recorded in the previous financial year. The local authoriti

People who drive their own cars for work purposes are being short-changed because the tax-free amount they can receive in recompense has not changed for more than a decade. Currently, the Treasury

The number of substandard road bridges managed by councils across Great Britain has risen for the second year running. At the same time council engineering experts are warning about a shortage of s

The Chancellor could face losing almost a third of the revenue he gets from fuel duty from cars before the end of the decade because of the move to green motoring. However, the blow to the public f

The RAC Foundation fully supports the government’s attempts to decarbonise road transport and backed, with caveats, the move to halt the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in the UK in 2030.  Co

The number of substandard road bridges managed by councils across Great Britain is increasing.Local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales have identified 3,105 bridges – defined as structures o

The RAC Foundation has responded to a call for evidence from HM Treasury regarding Vehicle Excise Duty (VED). Since 2001 the ongoing level of VED payable has been based on emissions bands. However,

The poorest households in the UK saw spending on buying and running a car rise in 2018-19. RAC Foundation analysis of data requested from the ONS suggests that around a million car-owning household

The number of substandard road bridges managed by councils across Great Britain has fallen slightly over the past year, RAC Foundation analysis shows. Local authorities in England, Scotland and Wal

The very poorest car-owning households have seen their expenditure on motoring drop by 16% in a year. RAC Foundation analysis of data requested from the ONS suggests that just under a million car-o

Almost four fifths (78%) of households with a car or van now have a big four supermarket filling station on their doorstep. Analysis by the RAC Foundation shows that of the 19.6 million homes in th

The one-off cost of clearing the total maintenance backlog for the near 72,000 council-managed road bridges in Great Britain has increased by a third. Analysis by the RAC Foundation of data for the

Government should make better use of locally-collected data on road conditions to help influence policy and funding in this area. That is one of the recommendations the RAC Foundation makes in its

The RAC Foundation has urged the Chancellor to provide an appropriate level of investment for both strategic and local roads. In its representation to the Treasury ahead of the 2018 Budget to be he

The RAC Foundation backs plans for major road network (MRN) that would create a tier of roads beyond the existing strategic road network (SRN) in England.

The very poorest car-owning households have seen their expenditure on motoring jump by 37% in a year. RAC Foundation analysis of previously unreleased data from the Office for National Statistics (

Almost 3,500 council-maintained road bridges in Great Britain are substandard. Analysis of data for the 2016-17 financial year - received from 204 of the 207 local highway authorities in England, Scotland and Wales - found that 3,441 structures over 1.5m in span are not fit to carry the heaviest vehicles now seen on our roads, including lorries of up to 44 tonnes.

An entry contributed to by the RAC Foundation has won the 2017 Wolfson Economics Prize. Gergely Raccuja receives £250,000 for his idea that a per-mile charge collected by insurers should

Personal injury pay outs seventeen times higher than in some other European countries are forcing up the cost of insurance for drivers, particularly young ones. Meeting the long-term care costs of

More than 3,000 council-maintained road bridges in Great Britain are substandard. Analysis of data received from 199 of the 207 local highway authorities in England, Scotland and Wales found that

New figures reveal that the poorest car-owning households in the UK remain deep in transport poverty. Official data analysed by the RAC Foundation suggests that around 960,000 of the very poorest car

Drivers made at least 31,483 claims against councils for vehicle damage caused by poor road conditions in the last financial year. This equates to a claim being submitted every seventeen minutes in 2015/16.

At a time when there are big changes in the way the English strategic road network is being managed – the creation of Highways England and the five-year road investment strategy – and

Capital spending on local roads in England is at its lowest level for well over a decade. In the last two financial years £1.8 billion has been spent annually on capital works which include

Almost 29,000 drivers made claims against councils across Great Britain for damage caused to their vehicles by potholes in the last financial year. Between them, the 200 (out of a total of 207) local

Diesel is being sold as twice as fast as petrol and the mismatch is set to accelerate. By 2030 it is forecast that diesel will be selling four times as fast. This will leave the UK facing a growing

To protect the road investment programme from the short-term budgetary process of government the proceeds of VED should be ring-fenced to create a dedicated road fund. That is the argument of Brian

This paper by Tom Worsley and Peter Mackie investigates the interaction and tensions between transport policy, the appraisal process and decision-making.

Councils receive pothole compensation claim every 11 minutes Almost 50,000 drivers made claims against councils across Great Britain for damage caused to their vehicles by potholes in the last financial year.

Road users are now paying four times more money to the Chancellor in motoring taxation than is being spent by the government on the roads.

In the second half of 2013 the government published a series of documents which, taken together, constitute a significant change in policy towards the strategic road network.

On the eve of the comprehensive spending review the latest RAC Foundation audit of English road building showed that progress has been made by government in improving capacity.

The RAC Foundation and the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport (ADEPT) jointly commissioned this research to help better understand the wider effects of local

This document attempts to draw together a picture of recent trends in maintenance activity and spending on local authority roads in England and Wales, and how this might develop in future.

Future governments face a relentless decline in the tax income they receive from fuel duty and VED. This is despite predicted growth in traffic.

We have a problem. Our roads are filling up and there is neither the plan nor the resources to deal with it.

Almost one hundred high-value road schemes that could be implemented relatively quickly and contribute to the growth agenda are sitting on the shelf waiting for funds.

In this discussion paper Phil Carey - a former senior civil servant at the DfT - outlines one possible component of reform of motoring taxation which would increase fairness whilst at the same time

Brian Wadsworth is a former senior civil servant at the Department for Transport. He is currently a director of the Road Ahead Group.

For many politicians it is the last transport taboo. Road pricing, road user charging, Pay As You Go driving - call it what you will - is all but off the coalition's radar.

More, people, more traffic, more congestion, less money for maintenance and capital investment.

Sky-high petrol prices. An attempt by Government to get motorists out of their cars. A political push for drivers to use an alternative fuel.

For those households with one or more cars, an average of 14 per cent of income is spent on motoring. For lower income families the figure is even higher.

At a time when every penny counts more than ever, are taxpayers getting the best value for money for each pound spent on transport projects?

The strategic road network - the country's motorways and major A roads - is run by the Highways Agency. It carries around a third of all road traffic, and two thirds of all heavy freight traffic.

How has the cost of buying a car changed over recent years? What about the cost of running it? How does motoring compare to public transport?

The Government has some tough decisions to make if it wants to avoid one thousand miles of severe congestion by 2041, according to this major RAC Foundation report.

How has the cost of buying a car changed over recent years? What about the cost of running it? How does motoring compare to public transport?