Local authorities that adopt good asset management will be rewarded when it comes to allocating local highways funding, according to details outlined in the National Infrastructure Plan (NIP) 2014.
Published at the same time as the Autumn Statement the NIP 2014 states that the government will be providing local authorities (in England) with £5.8 billion over the next six years for maintenance of local highways.
The government has now announced that of this funding £4.7bn will be allocated according to a needs-based formula, with £580 million to incentivise good asset management and efficiencies, and £575 million reserved to a challenge fund for large one-off maintenance and renewal projects. Funding from the needs-based formula, before including incentive and challenge funding, will indicatively be allocated regionally as follows:
North East – £270 million
North West – £630 million
Yorkshire and the Humber – £490 million
East Midlands – £540 million
West Midlands – £510 million
East of England – £640 million
South East – £780 million
South West – £850 million
Details of a £15bn road spending programme, which includes 84 new road projects, were outlined by the government earlier this week.
Delivering his Autumn Statement in the House of Commons today (2 December 2014), Chancellor George Osborne confirmed the government’s long term plans for infrastructure.
This includes £15 billion on roads, nearly £6 billion funding for local road improvements, and over £2.3 billion towards over 1,400 flooding and coastal erosion protection schemes.
Mr Osborne said: "Improving productivity for all businesses demands a major investment in our nation’s infrastructure. This week we’ve set out plans for the biggest road building programme for a generation. We’ve committed billions to our flood defences. And today expand tax relief on business investment in those flood defences too. It’s all brought together in the National Infrastructure Plan – that is now helping our country attract more investment from around the world than any other country in Europe."
