Clive Hall, Head of Highways & Community Services at Herefordshire Council, spoke to the meeting on behalf of the Midlands Service Improvement Group (MSIG) about its response to the Department for Transport’s consultation on proposals for a major road network (MRN).
Clive’s presentation can be seen in full here, and included the following points:
- While supportive of the proposal’s core principals, MSIG considers that DfT’s proposals do not represent a holistic approach to developing a coherent road network and undervalues the importance of connectivity between locations. The MRN should be identified on the basis of a route’s current and future importance to the economy and resilience of the region. Not all de-trunked routes have retained such importance, particularly in areas of the country where the density of the SRN and proposed MRN is comparatively high.
- The missing component in the MRN proposals is its maintenance. Without investment in the maintenance of the MRN it will not operate well as part of a whole system.
- The MRN proposal’s focus on new schemes/major renewals could lead to unintended consequences where authorities let ads decline rather than maintaining them as part of an asset management approach. This will result in poor investment choices and is contrary to life cycle planning
The following discussion covered whether the local authority funding system was working properly, or was inadvertently hindering the allocation of the “right” money to the right projects at the right time. Acknowledging the importance of local roads to the economy and productivity, the question was raised about whether the industry could propose ways in which road conditions could be enhanced to improve productivity and save road maintenance money in the long term.