Local Roads given £1bn funding boost in the nick of time

“It is good the DfT has realised that the de-trunking of major roads and devolving the maintenance to councils has left roads underfunded. The fact they are ring-fencing money to help upgrade these roads is a good thing as it means that the funding is going to councils and not national agencies.

“The challenge lies around the model – it will be shared as a bid process, which means that it may not always go to those in most need, but to those who place the better bids.

“In terms of what they hope the outcome will be, it is difficult to say. Clearly upgrades to congested areas are a good thing – but they are divisive in terms of environment against infrastructure. The long term outcomes could also be mixed – some congestion reduction schemes simply attract more traffic, leaving the site as congested as it was previously because users stop using backroads and revert back to using major routes.

“Regardless of these challenges, it is good to see the government putting significant funding into roads, and ring-fencing money from vehicle exercise to fund this.”