Transport Insights

National Highways’ regulator, the Office of Rail and Road, has told me that it still expects the new Road Investment Strategy (RIS) to be published in March, despite some loose wording in a newsletter referring to publication “the start of April”.

Separately, the roads minister has confirmed that the RIS will break down National Highways’ spending across “key categories” such as operations, maintenance, renewals and enhancements, but will not include forecast costs for specific enhancements.

Tory MP Jerome Mayhew asked ministers whether the RIS will include a breakdown of forecast costs for each enhancement scheme and planned expenditure on operations, maintenance and renewals, disaggregating maintenance, and staffing costs.

Transport minister Simon Lightwood replied that the strategy will set out planned capital and revenue expenditure over the period, but not forecast costs of individual enhancements.

He added:

In line with previous Road Investment Strategies, RIS3 will not Scheme-level costs will continue to be developed and refined through the business case and investment decision-making process, ensuring value for money and appropriate assurance prior to commitment.

Lightwood added that further details would be included in National Highways’ subsequent delivery plans and reporting arrangements.

When the new RIS is published, this breakdown of spending under categories such as operations, maintenance and renewals, and by implication enhancements, will reveal to what extent promises in last year’s draft RIS that the new plan “will have a far greater focus than earlier RISs on the maintenance and renewal of the existing network” have been met.

However, the fact that the government is funding the £3bn “publicly financed” work on the £11bn Lower Thames Crossing outside the RIS budget and is prepared to forego billions more in charges on the Dartford Crossings has already undermined this pledge.