Thousands of miles of council-owned roads should receive comparable levels of funding as the Strategic Road Network (SRN) in order to support regional economies, a new report has argued.
The study, published for the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund, warned that while 4,200 miles of motorways and ‘A’ roads are benefiting from a £15bn five-year improvement programme, 3,800 of council-owned roads are missing out on this investment.
It says that putting these local authority roads alongside the SRN would form a 8,000-mile Major Road Network, serving 43% of England’s traffic on just 4% of road mileage.
The report - entitled A Major Road Network for England - calls for some of the new National Roads Fund to be used to improve these local authority roads, without the need for control of them to transfer to Highways England.
David Quarmby, lead author of the report, said: ‘You clearly have to draw the line somewhere, but there is a strong argument for the economic importance of many more miles of ‘A’ road being acknowledged – while recognising the value of them remaining under local control. If they are given premier league status they should have access to premier league planning, funding and continuity.
‘Just last week the chancellor committed to continuing public investment in our infrastructure, while ensuring economic growth is distributed more evenly across the regions. Investing in the Major Road Network will – through its greater connectivity and broader geographical scope than the Strategic Road Network alone – help to achieve that wider spread of growth.’
