Launched today: ‘Gearing up for efficient highway delivery’ sees the Department for Transport seek views on how funding for local highway authorities can provide the maximum benefit. The Department is looking for views and evidence on how the £5.8 billion announced in the Spending Round for local highways maintenance from 2015/16 – 2020/21 will be allocated. 

The document is supporting material for a series of regional roadshows which are being held by the Department for Transport and the Highways Maintenance Efficiency Programme on the topic of highways maintenance efficiencies and funding. The document sets out ideas on how funding could be distributed from 2015 onwards in order to maximise benefits. This includes looking at the existing formula for block grant to each local highway authority and considers whether a top slice of the funding should be used for a competition bid fund for major maintenance schemes.

Attendance at the regional roadshow events will give those invited to attend the opportunity to provide comments on the ideas in this document and to provide ideas and evidence of your own. However, additional comments or evidence can be provided by responding using the following online survey (preferred): https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LHWQ95F or via email: HMRoadshows2014@dft.gsi.gov.uk  

The document is available here:  https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/273820/efficient-funding-2015-2021.pdf

For the DfT annoucement go to:  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-transport-capital-block-funding

Further information, ‘Gearing up for efficient highway delivery’ looks at three main areas:

1. Incentivising highways maintenance efficiencies in funding allocation
   • How to incentivise authorities to implement asset management, with a proposal that additional funding will be given to authorities that can demonstrate that they have, and are using, an up-to-date asset management strategy. 
   • To give a renewed impetus to the Highways Maintenance Efficiency Programme (HMEP), the Department is considering how to further encourage local highway authorities to adopt efficiency measures by rewarding them financially.  The option here is that additional funding is given to authorities that are able to demonstrate they are adopting efficiency principles.
2. Highways Maintenance Challenge Fund
   • Assign a proportion of the highways maintenance budget to a new Challenge Fund, this would be available to local highway authorities in England to bid for major maintenance projects that are difficult to fund through the normal block allocations they receive.
   • Views are sought on setting aside up to £1.2 billion for the whole Fund – up to £200 million for each year from 2015/16 to 2020/21. This would mean that around £770 million would be allocated to local highway authorities on the basis of a formula and around £200 million would be awarded on a competitive basis.  This option is scalable depending on the views received and further consideration by the Department for Transport.
   • Seeking views on whether to top slice around £50 million a year from the £976 million being made available for local highway authorities to encourage cycleway and footpath maintenance, and improvements to the existing road network or where these are segregated.  There are two potential options for how this would be funded.  One is for the funding to be made available as part of the challenge fund.  The other is to have a specific Fund for local authorities to submit bids to the Department specifically for the maintenance and improvement of footpaths and local cycle networks.
   • Finally the document asks if Invest to Save street lighting projects should be part of the Challenge Fund and how alternative funding mechanisms could be used.
3. Highways Maintenance Block Formula changes
   • The current formula has a separate de-trunking and the new proposal is that, going forward, de-trunked roads would not be a discrete element of the funding formula but be part of the lane length of the authorities roads.
   • Authorities receiving funding for street lighting (currently over 30) through PFI might not receive the street lighting element of funding in the future (as is currently the case).
   • Seeking views on if the current weightings for each element in the funding formula of: roads 66%, structures 29% and lighting 5% should be maintained.
   • Currently traffic volumes are not accounted for in the current funding formula.  Provided that traffic volume is a key variable in terms of affecting the rate of carriageway deterioration if part of the funding allocated through the Block Grant was based on traffic volumes this would mean would mean that those areas which are more heavily trafficked could receive more funding.  This might be one of a number of significant changes that could shake-up funding from 2015 onwards.