National Highways are due to complete repairs on the Ouse bridge by September 2024 when the temporary speed limit will be lifted, and all lanes opened to traffic in both directions. Whilst there will be some residual work after all the lanes open, it will not impact road users.

Whilst there are no currently planned schemes to resurface the A1 between Newark and Grantham, it is inspected on a weekly basis and appropriate action is taken to address any safety critical defects within 24 hours.

Departmental officials have regular dialogue with National Highways about maintenance on the Strategic Road Network. In the last 3 months, National Highways (NH) has carried out repairs and addressed defects on the A1(M) southbound approach to junction 7.

National Highways has a comprehensive road inspection and maintenance programme to maintain safe roads and to reduce the potential for potholes and other surface defects.

Further work will be done between 12 and 16 February. Subsequently, NH has plans to carry out further permanent road surface patch repairs within a 2km stretch of the A1(M) southbound approach to junction 7.

The initial scope of the project included the replacement of two half joints on the eastbound carriageway however, following further inspections, National Highways determined that it was necessary to replace all eight joints. Whilst this means works will be ongoing longer than anticipated, it will minimise future disruption to road users and mitigate the risk of any future emergency failures that could lead to the full closure of the bridge.

The programme of works on the M62 Ouse bridge is scheduled to complete by the end of August 2024, at which point the temporary speed limits and lane closures will be removed.

The last inspection on the westbound A46 between Lincoln and Newark was conducted on 7 September 2023. National Highways did not identify any safety critical defects during their last inspection.

NH currently has a resurfacing scheme ongoing:

• A46 Northbound and Southbound - Winthorpe Roundabout to Brough Lane.
• Immediately following these resurfacing works NH will be completing some road surface repair work on the Southbound carriageway between the Hykeham and Halfway House roundabouts.

These works are due to be completed in October 2023.

National Highways are also currently in the process of scheduling some short-term road surface repairs between Brough and Hykeham. They currently anticipate these will be completed by the end of 2023.

Local highway authorities, including the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the highway network in their area. Local highway authorities do not have a requirement to routinely inform the Department of their spend on pothole repairs.

During the past five financial years the Department has provided over £73 million to East Riding of Yorkshire Council for local highway maintenance, including the repairs of road defects such as potholes.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities also provides revenue funding to all local authorities, including the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, via the annual Revenue Support Grant. This is unringfenced and local authorities can use it for local highways maintenance.

^[1] Includes East Riding’s share of the extra £200 million for the year 2023/24 announced in the Budget 2023:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/highways-maintenance-funding-allocations/additional-budget-2023-highways-maintenance-and-pothole-repair-funding-2023-to-2024

We remain fully committed to fitting tactile paving at all remaining mainline railway stations in Britain by the end of 2025 at the latest. At Doncaster Network Rail have completed preparatory tarmac work on three platforms and will complete works on those platforms in July. All remaining platforms at Doncaster will have their tactiles installed before the end of this calendar year. In the meantime, safety announcements are being made to advice blind and partially sighted passengers of the current lack of tactiles at platform edges.

Increasing volumes of electric vehicles (EVs) are likely to have minimal impacts on roads in general, including on deterioration and longevity. Vehicles have been increasing in weight for many years, driven by consumer choice and improving safety and environmental performance technologies. While some EVs are heavier than their internal combustion engine (ICE) equivalents, there are many examples where EVs are lighter than the heaviest ICE vehicles currently on the market.

Maximum axle weight or gross vehicle weight limits are in place to avoid excessive road wear and damage. Heavy commercial vehicles, rather than passenger vehicles, are the dominant factor determining road design and weight limits.

The surfacing on the A1 motorways (M) near the Hatfield tunnel is currently under review by National Highways to ensure that the road remains safe and serviceable for all road users.

The A1(M) is inspected on a weekly basis, currently on Tuesdays. During NH’s inspections it categorises all defects identified according to their severity. The most severe defects, which are a potential risk to road users, are made safe within 24 hours and permanently repaired within 28 days. Less severe defects are monitored during the weekly inspections and repaired if they deteriorate or within six months, normally alongside other planned works. This arrangement enables us to keep the roads safe whilst minimizing the disruption to road users from roadworks.

All of the defects on the A1(M) in the most severe category have been repaired.

The Department works closely with the highways sector to promote best practice and to encourage innovation and trialling of new technologies. In 2019, the Department provided £22.9 million for a ‘Live Labs’ innovation programme, managed by the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport (ADEPT), as a way of encouraging innovation across the English local road network.

Based on the previous Live Labs success, the Department has this year confirmed an additional £30 million for a second round of the ADEPT Live Labs programme, with a focus on decarbonising local highways infrastructure and assets to improve the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of local highways maintenance and repair. This will see seven projects, grouped by four interconnected carbon-related themes, being led by local highway authorities working alongside commercial and academic partners.

The Department is working closely with the UK Roads Leadership Group’s Resilience, Biodiversity & Climate Board to assess the impact of climate change on the highway network and to develop guidance for local highway authorities to make their highway assets, including road surfaces, more resilient.

After reviewing funding options, to help local authorities plan effectively for managing their roads and improve asset management, the Government has moved to a three-year funding settlement for local highway maintenance amounting to approximately £915 million of capital funding per year. This funding covers the financial years 2022/23 to 2024/25 and is for local highway authorities across England outside of London and the Mayoral Combined Authorities which receive separate funding.

Mayoral Combined Authorities are receiving City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements amounting to £5.7 billion over five years, which includes funding for maintenance for their local highway networks.

The specification for road surface toppings used in the whole of the UK is defined in the Manual of Contract Documents for Highway Works (MCHW) and Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB), both these documents are owned and manged by National Highways. This includes general content (used by all organisations) and national specific content for National Highways, Transport Scotland, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland’s Department for Infrastructure. National specific content is included for asphalt surfacing materials based on local requirements linked to types of road, traffic levels, environmental factors (such as weather) and noise. These local requirements are not consistent across and between the road authorities; therefore, each organisation has different ranges of options.

In respect of the Strategic Road Network (SRN), National Highways specifies the requirements for drainage design and maintenance in its Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB). This suggests that those responsible for the network should:

o remove surface water from the carriageway as quickly as possible to provide safety and minimum nuisance to the road users;

o maximise longevity of the pavement and its associated earthworks;

o minimise the impact of the runoff on the receiving environment in terms of flood risk and water quality; and,

o manage water flows from earthworks and structures associated with the roads.

On the strategic road network, drainage work is carried out via planned renewal and improvement work funded by the Roads Investment Strategy (RIS), with performance monitored and reported to the Office for Rail and Road.

On other roads, drainage gullies are the responsibility of the respective local highway authority. Local highway authorities have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980, to maintain the local highway network. The Act does not set out specific standards of maintenance, as it is for each local highway authority to assess which parts of its network need repair and what standards should be applied, based upon their local knowledge and circumstances.

The 30mph speed limit over the bridge is in place due to the reduced lane widths required to accommodate the two lanes in either direction, together with the barrier to segregate the traffic. The limit is in place to ensure the safety of traffic crossing the bridge and the safety of the workforce.

Replacement of the joints on the bridge is anticipated to complete in winter 2023, following which the speed limit and traffic management will be removed.

The Pothole Action Fund that ran from 2016/17 to 2020/21 was allocated to eligible local highway authorities through the Section 31 grant process. Funding provided in this way is not ringfenced as set out in the Local Government Act 2003, but grant funding letters come with grant agreements which include conditions of spend that local authorities must adhere to.

There is a programme of resurfacing on the A1(M) as follows:

A1(M) J1 – J6

A1(M) J1-J2 – Minor repairs were completed mid-April, with further enhanced inspections beginning week commencing 24 April 2023. Larger scale resurfacing will be undertaken dependent on inspection outcome.

A1(M) J14-J17

NH have plans to undertake some resurfacing of the A1M northbound between J15 to J16 lane 1. Works are expected to be completed around August/September 2023

A1(M) J8 – J10

National Highways has plans to carry out minor surface repairs before the end of April. No plans for larger-scale resurfacing until the next roads investment period, 2025-2030.

A1(M) J52 – J53

Reprofiling Scheme starting 05/06/2023

A1(M) J60 – J61

Climbing Lanes patching scheme work starting 18/09/2023

A1(M) J61 – J62

Hard Shoulder patching scheme work starting 30/10/2023

This carriageway is inspected on a weekly basis and 10 potholes were repaired overnight on 18 and 19 April 2023 at J1 – J2. National Highways will be conducting enhanced inspections during the week commencing 24 April 2023.

The Government recognises the importance of providing access to the outdoors for people’s health and wellbeing and are working to ensure this is safe and appropriate. We committed in our Environmental Improvement Plan published on 31 January to work across government to help ensure that everyone lives within 15 minutes’ walk of a green or blue space.

The Government is delivering a number of policies to increase access to nature including:

• Delivering the £14.5m ‘Access for All’ programme, which consists of a package of targeted measures in our protected landscapes, national trails, forests and the wider countryside to make access to green and blue spaces more inclusive.
• Working to complete the England Coast Path which, at around 2,700 miles, will be the longest waymarked and maintained coast walking route in the world. Over 2,000 miles have now been approved as England Coast Path, with nearly 800 miles already open. It will also create 250,000 hectares of new open access land within the coastal margin.
• Delivering the £9m Levelling Up Parks Fund to improve green space in over 100 disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the UK.
• Designating Wainwright’s coast to coast route across the north of England as a National Trail.
• Our commitment to the provision of safe and appropriate public access in as many woodlands as possible as set out in the England Trees Action Plan. The recently published Environmental Improvement Plan reiterates our commitment to publish our ambition for improving the quantity, quality, and permanency of woodland access.
• Through programmes with the Community Forests and Forestry England we are enabling creation of large scale publicly accessible woodlands near towns and cities.
• We continue to support land managers to provide woodland access through our Countryside Stewardship (CS) and England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) schemes.
• Under the new Environmental Land Management (ELM) offer, for woodlands, we are providing societal benefits by bringing people closer to nature, allowing long term permissive access for recreation and contributing to the rural economy.

Local authorities are responsible for the management and maintenance of public rights of way including green lanes. Landowners are responsible for the maintenance of permissive paths. The UK Forestry Standard clearly states that existing rights of access must be respected and not obstructed. In England and Wales, responsible access must be allowed on mapped access land, including woodland dedicated under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, unless a Direction is in place to restrict or exclude access. All government supported planting, such as under our England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) and Countryside Stewardship Scheme, must comply with these requirements.

Safety inspections of the A1(M) between junctions 8 and 10 are carried out by National Highways on a weekly basis. Its last inspection was carried out on 21 March 2023 with the next due to take place on 28 March 2023.

National Highways plan to conduct minor surface repairs along this section of the A1(M) before the end of April.

The Department for Transport (DfT) allocates capital funding through the section 31 grant process so that local highways authorities can most effectively spend this funding on maintaining and improving their respective networks, based upon their local knowledge, circumstances, and priorities.

Section 31 grant funding is not ringfenced as set out in the Local Government Act 2003; it is up to the highway authority how to spend this funding to fulfil its statutory duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980. Local decision makers are democratically accountable for the decisions they take.

DfT strongly encourages authorities to spend their allocations on highways maintenance activities and advocates a risk-based whole lifecycle asset management approach to local authority highways maintenance programmes. This considers all parts of the highway network, such as gulleys, bridges, cycleways, and lighting columns – and not just the fixing of potholes.