The annual assessment of Highways England's performance and delivery of its investment plan, covering the first road period, from April 2015 to March 2020 was published by the ORR today. 

Three key messages are presented in the report:

Key message one: In the first road period, Highways England has demonstrated a strong commitment to improving safety on the strategic road network, but must continue to work hard to meet its challenging target. In response to ORR’s probing, the company has taken action to improve road user satisfaction and shown an increased focus on meeting the needs of those users. It has met most of its performance targets.

Key message two: Highways England has successfully achieved 95% of its commitments for delivery of major improvement schemes in Road Period 1. The actual number of commitments delivered is lower than originally set out in 2015, but is in line with the revised plan it agreed with Government. Addressing concerns raised by ORR, the revised plan also reduces disruption to road users.

The accuracy of Highways England’s planning of renewals delivery has improved through the road period, reflecting an increased maturity in asset management capability. Highways England has largely exceeded its planned delivery of renewals across Road Period 1.

Key message three: Highways England has met its KPI target to deliver more efficiently in Road Period 1. The company has responded positively to ORR’s constant challenge to improve the evidence used to support reported efficiency.

For the full report, please see here.

Dipesh J Shah has also been announced as the new chairman for Highways England. Replacing Colin Matthews, Dipesh J Shah's task will be to see through the successful delivery of the Road Investment Strategy 2. Dipesh brings extensive experience from both the public and private sectors, and according to LinkedIn he has served the past 12 years as the Non-Executive Director of Thames Water.

The Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, also reported to Parliament on the performance of Highways England today. For the details of that statement, please see here.