Transport Insights

The new Road Investment Strategy (RIS) has set a new low for opacity by announcing four “designated funds” without any actual funding committed.

The RIS document, published this morning by the Department for Transport, rehearses the use of designated funds to “go beyond the requirements of National Highways as a network operator” and states:

RIS3 will continue to provide funding for four Designated Funds: Safety; Customer and Communities; Innovation and Research; and Environment. These four funds have been refined from RIS2 to reflect the priorities of RIS3 and its increased focus on safety and environmental objectives.

Each Designated Fund is operated directly by National Highways. National Highways will report to Government about where the money has been spent, and how it has delivered value for money, but the operational decisions about how to invest these funds is delegated to National Highways.

But, despite a reference to “the money” and to “these funds”, nowhere does the document state how much money will be in each of these funds, meaning that each so-called funds currently has neither designated funding nor any actual objectives.

It appears that any actual funding will be announced further down the line.

In fact, National Highways’ own webpage states:

We are working closely with the Government and the Office of Rail and Road to finalise commitments for the next road period – Road Investment Strategy 3 (RIS3). Once the final RIS3 is published, we will release our Strategic Business Plan and Delivery Plan, setting out our approach for Designated Funds for (2026–2031). 

The RIS describes the safety fund as follows:

Improving safety for users and workers on the SRN is a key RIS3 priority. This fund supports targeted, small-scale safety interventions, aligned with wider activities supported by other investment and the Safe System approach. The fund will deliver network interventions to improve safety on high-risk roads, including post collision response and suicide prevention.

But the attempt at explaining the environmental fund produces even more of a word salad:

Improving safety for users and workers on the SRN is a key RIS3 priority. This fund supports targeted, small-scale safety interventions, aligned with wider activities supported by other investment and the Safe System approach. The fund will deliver network interventions to improve safety on high-risk roads, including post collision response and suicide prevention.

I’m not entirely sure how you focus on delivering a range of unspecified environmental activities, or how “responding to air quality obligations” can be said to “go beyond the requirements of National Highways as a network operator”.

Responding to air quality obligations is literally one of the requirements of National Highways as a network operator.