Sue Percy CBE, Chief Executive CIHT said:

‘Whilst CIHT welcomes the Chancellor’s recognition that highways and transport infrastructure is vital for Britain’s future growth and quality of life, unfortunately, this will be difficult to achieve unless the appropriate funding mechanisms and policy priorities are put in place.”

“The government’s redirection of money from the cancellation of HS2 Phase 2 includes a welcome £8.3Bn fund to be invested in local networks. However, CIHT believe that this approach via one off funding pots is no replacement for the long term, secure and dedicated settlement required to address the enormous backlog of repair and maintenance on local roads in our towns and cities. We have concerns that the continued squeeze on local government budgets will unfortunately make the current situation worse, making life difficult for all road users, holding back growth and damaging quality of life for everyone.”

“We are disappointed that the budget was largely silent on measures to support the decarbonisation of the transport system and to help make it more resilient to the impacts of climate change. The Government's own figures indicate that reductions of transport related emissions of more than 60% will be needed in the next decade to stay on course for Net Zero by 2050. Change at this scale and pace cannot be achieved by business as usual, and the Chancellor chose to talk about a "war on motorists" rather than try to build a consensus on how we can deliver a transition to a low carbon future that a broad range of people and businesses can get behind.” 

Let us know what you think.

e: communications@ciht.org.uk