When we talk about the challenges facing road transport, funding is never far from the conversation.  Local Authorities are already working incredibly hard to deliver for their communities – stretching shrinking budgets, managing rising user demand and doing their best to balance short-term pressures with long-term needs. The scale of that challenge can’t be overstated. But within it lie real opportunities.

We’ve seen firsthand that, with the right approach, smarter funding structures can deliver more: reduce carbon, improve reliability and make sure the roads and services invested in today keep working for years to come. To make that happen, however, highways teams and their supply chains have to work together, finding creative solutions to shared problems.  

Pooling resources and sharing rewards

Councils are already making limited budgets go a long way by pooling funds and sharing resources to deliver services. In the highways sector, this collaborative approach is especially vital for driving forward innovation, helping network operators to trial new ideas with their delivery partners and spread both the risks and the rewards. New technologies and approaches often require upfront investment that’s hard to justify alone, but the business case becomes far stronger when several authorities align their efforts and investment on innovation.  

We’ve seen how this can work in practice, especially with our clients in London. Take electrification as an example. Transitioning vans and small equipment is manageable, but heavier fleet vehicles such as grab lorries present a bigger challenge. Grants may cover depot upgrades, but not the infrastructure required to run an electric fleet at scale.  By working together, authorities and contractors can capitalise on their geographic proximity and invest in shared charging infrastructure and equipment, reducing costs while accelerating decarbonisation.

A similar case exists in London for kerb refurbishment and repairs, where scale makes projects viable only when approached in geographical clusters such as neighbouring London boroughs. Shared investment unlocks access to innovation that would otherwise remain out of reach, helping to drive efficiencies, sustainability, and effective maintenance.

The power of future focused planning 

Collaboration can only deliver its full value when paired with long-term thinking about how funding is used. Local authorities know better than anyone that short-term funding cycles naturally encourage short-term thinking. With budgets renewed annually or in small increments, highways teams are often only able to react to immediate repairs rather than plan preventative maintenance.

Again, we’ve seen the benefits of bigger picture planning with our clients in London. Using GIS mapping to identify maintenance hotspots, for example, we’ve been able to propose more substantial resurfacing schemes instead of sending crews to repair 300 potholes individually. Doing repairs this way is more cost efficient, less carbon intensive, and more effective in the long run.

Climate at the core of value

If there is one reason to push us to combine a focus on collaboration and long-term thinking, it’s climate change. We definitely need innovation to address the challenge, but it isn’t only about cutting carbon. It’s also about making our highways resilient. Heavier rainfall, hotter summers, and more extreme weather are already accelerating wear and tear, and without adapting our approach, even the best-designed infrastructure will deteriorate faster. That makes long term thinking – and funding that supports it – more important than ever. 

The way we tackle funding is another lever we can pull to push us towards change. Time, cost, and quality have long been seen as the three sides of the project management triangle. Now, we must consider another side: climate resilience. If carbon and climate considerations are built into budgeting, they form a part of whether an investment has a good return or not, weighing up the outcomes of investment differently. Adding carbon to the equation can make projects better value for money. 

Tools like carbon calculators are allowing clients to see the full picture and make informed decisions when it comes to materials and methods. Improved visibility helps with budget planning, illustrating how different asphalt mixes can provide benefits both immediately, in the form of carbon reduction through the use of recycled content, and longer-term, through reduced maintenance requirements and increased durability.

Baking carbon into contracts

One promising development in recent years is the increasing integration of carbon considerations into procurement and contracts, linking funding decisions directly to sustainability outcomes. Standards such as PAS 2080 and the inclusion of Carbon Reduction Plans in major projects are embedding sustainability into funding decisions.

A clear example is the carbon performance clause introduced into New Engineering Contracts (NEC) in 2022. This allows clients to set carbon requirements at the outset, with contractors then measured against delivery, creating shared responsibility for outcomes.

Yet this clause is still underused. Part of the challenge lies in the sector’s reliance on specifications and design manuals that encourage “business as usual.” Breaking this cycle requires forward thinking clients who are open to change and prepared to trial new solutions. Carbon Management Plans are one way to take those first steps. By mapping where emissions occur, they identify priority areas for action and help align funding with a long-term roadmap. Used well, they give both clients and contractors the confidence to invest in new approaches.

About FM Conway

FM Conway is a leading infrastructure services company. We inspect, design, build, enhance and maintain essential infrastructure services for the public sector and community.

With over 60 years’ experience, we pride ourselves on being an industry leader and innovator, especially in recycling and reuse. We have a network of asphalt and aggregate recycling manufacturing plants serving London and the wider regions throughout the UK, as well as a Thames-side wharf and our own research and development laboratory.

We recycle 98% of highway arisings, including kerbs, paving and concrete and we have the ability to produce asphalt with a high recycled content and a low carbon footprint. 

We are British Standards Institute (BSI) PAS 2080:2030 certified for management and reduction of whole life carbon in infrastructure and the built environment.  We are a member of the British Safety Council, the Civil Engineering Contractors’ Association, and the Quarry Products Association, as well as being BSI registered for environmental and quality management.

We are multi-award winning in our approach to road safety and were the first company in the UK to have achieved British Standard ISO 39001, which provides a framework to help organisations reduce the incidence and adverse effects of road traffic accidents.

Please visit www.fmconway.co.uk