Written question asked by Viscount Thurso (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 22 February 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 28 February 2005. It was answered by Charlotte Atkins (Labour) on Monday, 28 February 2005 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Dept for Transport

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his policy is on the percentage of road length, broken down by highway category type, which should be considered for structural maintenance work in each local authority area in 2004.

Answer: John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his policy is on the percentage of road length, broken down by highway category type, which should be considered for structural maintenance work in each local authority area in 2004. [218211] Charlotte Atkins: Structural maintenance work on highways last year, as at any time, was a matter for the local authorities themselves to decide. The Department recommends that local authorities maintain their roads in accordance with the code of practice for maintenance management "Delivering best value in highway maintenance" published in 2001. In deciding on structural maintenance work authorities should pay regard, amongst other things, to the surface condition surveys of carriageways they are required to carry out annually. These produce the best value performance indicators 96, 97a and 97b (for principal, non-principal classified and unclassified roads respectively) that indicate the proportion of the network that should be considered for structural maintenance. ODPM will publish the 2004-05 results of these surveys for each English local authority later this year.

Secondary information