The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Infrastructure (APPGI) has today (10 December) held a Parliamentary Reception in the House of Commons to celebrate the launch of the National Engineering Policy Centre (NEPC)’s new report ‘Reviving Ageing Infrastructure’.

Sue Percy CBE, Chief Executive CIHT, joined the Chair of APPGI, Mike Reader MP, industry stakeholders, MPs, and Lords to champion resilience and highlight the need for investment in aging infrastructure in the transport sector.

The report calls on the UK Government and local authorities to address the growing risks posed by deteriorating infrastructure across the UK.

The full report is available to read here.

The report has been developed in collaboration with the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT), alongside other institutions including the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institute of Highway Engineers, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Institution of Structural Engineers, the Institute of Water, the Permanent Way Institution, and the Institute of Asset Management.

The report draws attention to chronic under investment in maintenance despite increasing demand on transportation, water and wastewater networks, and flood-defence systems Without action, the NEPC warns of risks to public safety, service disruption, and long-term economic costs.

The NEPC’s working group emphasises that maintaining and renewing existing infrastructure must become a strategic national priority, on a par with new construction.

The report highlights that proper maintenance offers clear societal and economic benefits such as ensuring safety, reducing the likelihood of disruption, and avoiding the far greater costs that arise from emergency repairs or failures.

Through quantifying these benefits, the NEPC aims to strengthen the case for sustained investment and long-term planning.

The NEPC calls on central, devolved, and local government to adopt a cross-sector approach covering transport, water, wastewater, and flood risk-defence to embed infrastructure maintenance in future policy frameworks.

The report further highlights that sustaining the UK’s infrastructure is not optional, but essential for safeguarding public services, protecting communities, and supporting a thriving, resilient economy.

CIHT has previously published a report ‘Delivering a resilient transport network- maintaining and future proofing highway infrastructure from extreme weather events’, that echoes many of the NEPC’s recommendations.

CIHT President 25/26 Mitesh Solanki will be focusing on resilience and adaptation in his presidential year, further embedding activities and initiatives on climate action, as the Institution seeks to support the decarbonisation of the highways, transport, and infrastructure sector.

Mitesh Solanki, President, CIHT said:

Climate change is presenting society and our sector with challenges that we must do more on. The question we as professionals must ask ourselves is how we are adapting to the changing world. We need to take the opportunity to think about new ways of increasing our climate resilience and long-term solutions for the highways, transport, and infrastructure sector.

Notes for editors:

CIHT has previously published a report ‘Delivering a resilient transport network- maintaining and future proofing highway infrastructure from extreme weather events’ that echoes many of the NEPC’s recommendations.

Key takeaways 

1. Urgency to act now and be prepared: CIHT calls for adaptation and resilience to be made an immediate investment and policy priority across all governmental transport strategies. There is a risk of significant and expensive infrastructure failures if resilience measures are not recognised as key strategic objectives now. Extreme weather events are happening with increased frequency and intensity – it is imperative that we act now to mitigate the risk of losses.
2. Funding for maintenance: CIHT calls for investment in maintenance of our existing highways and infrastructure to ensure the continued and efficient use of our transport network. Incrementally adapting infrastructure and proactively maintaining it are crucial for extreme weather resilience and meeting decarbonisation goals.
3. Mandatory assessments of the current and future resilience of the infrastructure: CIHT encourages the legislative road authorities of the UK to make it a statutory requirement for all transport asset owners to conduct transport resilience assessments. This will help to identify vulnerabilities in the network, prioritise remedial action and identify who should be responsible. This should also apply to neighbouring asset owners and utilities where risks and impacts are clearly inter-twined.
4. Building a nationwide leadership: CIHT encourages the legislative road authorities of the UK to provide coherent and consistent guidance to the sector on how to undertake risk assessments on resilience. There is a need to avoid different operators and asset owners developing their own internal assessments based on different assumptions, leading to non-transferable or non-sharable data.