Delays to large projects and a risk of underspend have been highlighted as areas of concern for Highways England in a report by the Office of Rail & Road.
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The regulator’s chief executive John Larkinson spoke of its concern about future delivery during the second Road Investment Period, in the ORR’s annual assessment of Highways England performance.
‘We have already seen schemes moving further along in the road period and into the next as well as some significant underspends’, he writes in a foreword to the report. ‘Given that we are only 12 months into this road period we are concerned that this demonstrates a lack of appropriate capability in the planning and risk management of the portfolio on the part of Highways England’.
He adds that delays in the delivery of certain schemes threatens Highways England’s efficiency and wider performance targets.
The ORR also expressed concern that planning risks may impact more schemes as the spending period progresses, which could affect road users if more works are carried out concurrently than originally planned.
But the report also points out good progress made in delivering enhancement projects in year one of the current Road Investment Period between April 2020 and March 2021.
It also found that at the end of the first year, Highways England cleared 88.6% of incidents within one hour against a target of 86% and reported that 95.2% of the road surface did not need further investigation for possible maintenance, against a target of 95%.
In addition the report says the road network operator maintained a strong focus on safety, but added it must continue to deliver on safety and specifically on safety focused changes to the smart motorway programme.
Highways England’s acting chief executive Nick Harris said in a statement: “Over the last year our teams have risen well to the challenge though the Covid pandemic, working hard to keep the country connected and at the same time opened three major road schemes including the A14.
“We also completed 77 projects for walkers, cyclists and horse riders and over 2000 homes benefited from noise reduction measures. In 2021-22 we will start work on 11 major projects with drivers benefiting from the opening of six major improvements. Safety continues to be our priority and we are determined to improve safety on our roads.”
(Photograph: Highways England)
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