Each year the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) commissions an independent survey of local authority highway authorities in England, including London, and Wales.

According to the AIA report, the aim of the survey is to take a snapshot of the general condition of the local road network based on information provided directly by those responsible for its maintenance.

The Department considers the report, along with a range of other evidence, when we are bidding to His Majesty’s Treasury (HMT).

The local authorities that have been pre-selected for funding are invited to submit an application. This selection is based on robust Department for Transport data that has been further analysed by the Road Safety Foundation. This process is non-competitive.

After an initial meeting with Department officials to discuss their particular route and its issues, they submit their proposals for assessment. Each application is seen independently by 2 Safer Roads Fund officials at the DfT and an economist. The Safer Roads Fund Team also discuss the applications, making sure they have passed a list of criteria including governance, quality assurance, affordability and a risk register. HM Treasury must approve an overview of the proposed funded schemes before funds can be released.

As it is a non-competitive process, the eligible bids are assessed to ensure that the local authorities’ planned interventions will successfully capture the Road Safety Foundation modelled interventions to reduce risks on the selected route.

Local authorities have access at all times to support from the DfT and the Road Safety Foundation.

My officials are in contact with City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council on the information needed as part of the Department’s review of the Strategic Outline Case for the Shipley Eastern Relief Road scheme.

In 2023/24, Suffolk County Council received £35 million of capital funding from the Department for Transport, an increase of 30% compared to the previous financial year, with much of the additional funding made possible by the decision to reallocate funding from the HS2 programme. The Department asked all local highway authorities to publish a plan on how they intend to spend the additional funding being provided, and Suffolk County Council’s plan is available on its website.

Under the 1980 Highway Act, it is the responsibility of the local highway authority, in this case Suffolk County Council, to maintain and manage its highway network. The Department for Transport allocates capital funding to local highways authorities to enable them to maintain their highway networks, but decisions on how much of this, and how much of their other income, is spent mending potholes as opposed to maintaining other highway assets are entirely matters for them.

National Highways are responsible for litter collection on motorways and some trunk roads. Local authorities manage litter collection on the rest of the roads in England including junctions and verges.

National Highways inspect and grade the Strategic Road Network (SRN) in accordance with Defra’s Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse and litter is picked almost every day on their roads. Their activities are reported and monitored via its corporate Performance Indicator outlined in the Roads Investment Strategy. The Office for Road and Rail also play an important role in monitoring on behalf of the Secretary of State, by ensuring that National Highways’ deliver its commitments.

The Department collects information on personal injury road collisions reported to police via the STATS19 data collection system.

Fatal casualties do not have an injury recorded for them. Only slight and serious casualties reported on an injury-based reporting system have detail on the type of injuries sustained in the collision. In 2022, 27 out of 44 police forces were using an injury-based reporting system.

The number of serious casualties where the most severe recorded injury was a head injury, by road user type in Great Britain for 2022, for which is the latest available year, can be found in the table below.

I met with the Honorable Member on the 14^th of May and discussed this scheme in detail. The Outline Business Case submitted by Derbyshire County Council has been assessed by Department for Transport officials, who have recently obtained additional information from Derbyshire County Council to help Ministers in their considerations. A decision will be announced as soon as possible.

I met with the Honorable Member on the 14^th of May and discussed this scheme in detail. The Outline Business Case submitted by Derbyshire County Council has been assessed by Department for Transport officials, who have recently obtained additional information from Derbyshire County Council to help Ministers in their considerations. A decision will be announced as soon as possible.

I met with the Honorable Member on the 14^th of May and discussed this scheme in detail. The Outline Business Case submitted by Derbyshire County Council has been assessed by Department for Transport officials, who have recently obtained additional information from Derbyshire County Council to help Ministers in their considerations. A decision will be announced as soon as possible.

On 4 October 2023 the Prime Minister announced an unprecedented increase of £8.3 billion for local highway maintenance over the period from 2023/24 to 2033/34 to help fix the blight of potholes on our local highway networks up and down the country.

As part of this, local highway authorities in the North West of England will receive in total a minimum funding uplift of £1.269 billion between 2023-24 and 2033-34. This includes an additional £19 million in both the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years to allow local highway authorities across the North West to make an immediate start on improving road conditions. Funding allocations for individual local highway authorities are published on gov.uk.

Although by global standards, roads in the UK are very safe, every road death and injury is a tragedy for the families involved and we are working on a number of measures to keep our roads and road users safe. This Government has updated The Highway Code to improve road safety for people walking, cycling and riding horses, tightened up the law to target the most dangerous drivers and closed the loophole in the offence of driving while using a mobile.

It is being considered.

More people are killed by cows and lightning than by dangerous cyclists, whereas around five people a day are killed on our roads by motor vehicles—a level that has flatlined under this Government. When will the Transport Secretary publish the long-overdue strategic framework for road safety?

Moor Farm roundabout in Cramlington is not for the faint-hearted. In fact, many of my residents have told me that they actively avoid it. That is exactly why I had the roundabout cleaned and re-marked recently; however, more work needs to be done. Will my hon. Friend meet me to discuss a more permanent solution, and the progress that I have made with Northumberland County Council and National Highways?

What recent discussions he has had with Transport for London on the refurbishment of Gallows Corner flyover.

I thank the Minister for his announcement of the funding for a makeover of Gallows Corner flyover, but I fear that we must do better. This is a major junction connecting the eastern side of Greater London with Essex, and it is where the A12 and the A127 join together. My constituents in Romford, and those of the wider Essex region, will be disappointed that we are not getting a fundamental restructuring of the junction to address the safety and congestion issues that I have highlighted for decades. Will he speak to Transport for London, go back to the drawing board, and come back with something better and more permanent that will put the safety of road users first?

I am pleased to say that the Gallows Corner scheme was recently approved at outline business case stage, with over £50 million-worth of backing from the Department for Transport. My officials are liaising with Transport for London to progress the scheme to the next stage of the process, and I look forward to TfL submitting the final business case for approval.

The condition of local roads is the No. 1 concern raised with me by Aylesbury residents, whether that is potholes, congestion caused by countless utility works, or simply not enough roads to cope with all the new houses that have been built. Will my hon. Friend reassure local residents that it is under this Conservative Government and our excellent local Conservative council that Aylesbury’s roads will improve for my long-suffering constituents?

Local authorities have a range of road safety measures available to them and they are best placed to make decisions on implementation.

The Government agrees that, whilst local road maintenance is the responsibility of individual local authorities, more that needs to be done to improve the condition of roads across the country.

That is why we’ve committed £8.3 billion extra from savings as a result of cancelling HS2 Phase 2 to help local councils fill potholes and resurface roads.