The £165 million Growth and Housing Acceleration Fund (GHAF) in the third Road Investment Strategy (RIS3) will bridge funding gaps for critical transport works on or near the Strategic Road Network to unblock stalled housing and employment sites across England. National Highways launched the GHAF on the 21 April 2026, inviting eligible authorities to register potential developments for consideration. A continuous rolling programme of delivery will be published from the end of 2026/27.

The fund is open to applications from across England, including in rural areas such as North Yorkshire. National Highways published the eligibility and assessment criteria at launch and will apply them consistently, with a focus on proposals where a specific transport constraint is preventing development and where there is evidence of a genuine viability gap, strong deliverability, and value for money.

The GHAF will support targeted, smaller-scale interventions and complements, rather than replaces, wider strategic investment programmes. As such, National Highways expects the GHAF to support both rural and urban communities, with the pipeline developed through developments submitted by eligible authorities and assessed against the published criteria.

The table below shows the main estimate budgets for the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. The data for the financial years before 2011/12 are not readily available.

The table below shows the data available for the annual budgets for the National Highways. This data has been extracted from the annual report and accounts.

The data requested for the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is publicly available information included in the DfT: workforce management information.

The data requested for National Highways (and covering Highways England) is publicly available information included in the Annual Report and Accounts. The only exception to this is in 2021/22 as the Annual Report and Accounts was not delivered in the same format following the creation of National Highways.

National Highways published its Delivery Plan for the Interim Period, April 2025 to March 2026, on its website on Thursday 17th July 2025.

https://nationalhighways.co.uk/media/2k0f3ya4/interim-period-delivery-plan-2025-26.pdf

The Department will publish the third Road Investment Strategy (RIS3) by the end of March 2026. Following this, National Highways will produce its next Delivery Plan covering 2026-2031.

The Government sets National Highways performance targets on litter as part of its Road Investment Strategies. These are based on the percentage of the Strategic Road Network where litter conditions are graded at B or above under the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ Litter Code of Practice. Progress towards the targets is monitored by the Office for Road and Rail, including through annual reports to Parliament. In 2023-24 National Highways' performance improved when compared to the previous year, and 59.2% of its network met the target. The ORR is continuing to challenge NH on the actions it is taking to address litter on the Strategic Road Network. Further details on litter management by National Highways can be found here: https://nationalhighways.co.uk/our-work/environment/communities/litter-on-motorways-and-major-a-roads/.

National Highways undertakes flood resilience work on England’s motorways and trunk A roads through a combination of ongoing maintenance and renewals activity that extends the life of, or replaces, existing roads and structures. The Department has set the budgets for the financial year 2025/26 as part of the Autumn Budget 2024. This allocated £1.455 billion to operations and maintenance, and a further £1.951 billion to renewals as part of a wider £4.842 billion interim settlement for National Highways. Funding beyond this financial year will be confirmed through the ongoing Spending Review which is due to complete in late Spring 2025.

The Environment Protection Act 1990 governs the responsibility for clearing highway litter and sweeping carriageways. National Highways is responsible for litter collection on motorways and some ‘A’ roads while the relevant Local Authority manages litter collection on the rest of the roads in England.

National Highways undertakes weekly safety inspections on the M60 and M67. National Highways’ most recent inspection of the M67 and M60 in Denton took place on 20 March 2025. The performance of contractors and their completion of maintenance activities are reviewed and monitored monthly by National Highways.

National Highways is responsible for managing England’s strategic road network, which is made up of over 4,500 miles of centrally managed motorway and main A-roads. The latest available data on road length of centrally managed motorways and A-roads broken down by local authority can be found on GOV.UK (Table RDL0102): https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/road-length-statistics-rdl.

Operational decisions on its vehicle fleet are made by National Highways; the fleet replacement strategy is to retain vehicles for an operational period of around 3 to 4 years, subject to factors such as mileage, general condition, and suitability for ongoing operational use. National Highways contracts with vehicle disposal agents that use auction services to repurpose and sell its vehicles at the end of their operational life.

The table below details the current number of diesel and plug-in hybrid vehicles which were added to National Highways’ fleet (by year, since 2018) to align with the governments’ Road to Zero Strategy for vehicle replacements.

Under its Licence, National Highways must comply with its legal duties and other obligations to ensure the maintenance, resilience, renewal and development of the strategic road network (SRN), and must have due regard to any guidance, standards or specifications relevant to its statutory or other functions. This includes GM701 that the company authors and publishes. It details maintenance requirements to keep the SRN safe and serviceable by undertaking routine cyclical operations, including in areas such as maintaining drainage assets.

As the independent Highways Monitor, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) holds National Highways to account in its effectiveness in operating the SRN, delivery of the road investment strategy and compliance with its Licence. ORR does not audit individual maintenance activities, rather it takes a proportional, systemic, approach focussed on holding the company to account for its drainage performance indicator. This indicator shows the susceptibility of the SRN to flooding and provides insight of drainage condition on the SRN.

ORR publish an annual assessment of National Highways’ performance. Both ORR and National Highways work closely with the department to keep it informed of performance against areas such as maintenance.

The corporate carbon emissions for National Highways (NH), or predecessor organisations (Highways Agency and Highways England), within the period requested were as follows:

National Highways (NH) does not keep a central record of the number of trees they have planted across England in any given year. However, as outlined in their ‘Net zero highways: our 2030 / 2040 / 2050 plan’, NH aims to plant at least 3 million trees by 2030 (in addition to the trees planted as ‘essential mitigation’ for projects).

The draft third Road Investment Strategy (RIS3), which will cover five years from April 2026 to March 2031, will be published in due course. This will set out the Government’s objectives for the Strategic Road Network and the funding available. This includes in relation to National Highways’ climate obligations and commitments.

National Highways use a wide range of low carbon materials and methods such as using bio-binders and recycled materials in asphalt, stipulating lower carbon concrete mixes in construction contracts, and investing in research and development into low-carbon materials. National Highways also follow lean construction practices and the principles of the circular economy to embed approaches that minimise emissions, including updating their standards - the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) - to include use of recycled materials. Additional information on National Highways, ambitious programme for putting roads at the heart of Britain’s net zero future can be found online (see: https://nationalhighways.co.uk/netzerohighways/) and within their ‘Net zero highways Our 2030 / 2040 / 2050 plan’.

National Highways has an electric vehicle pilot working group. It has undertaken 3 electric vehicle trials as follows:

• 2023 – present: £337,382.83

• 2024 – present: £453,487.40

• 2024 – present: £16,206.05

The first two pilot projects listed were supported via the National Highways designated funds programme to support its commitment to progress towards a zero-emission fleet.

The third pilot was provided as a business demonstrator, provided on a loan basis by the vehicle manufacturer.

National Highways does not currently have any lease agreements for vehicles in place for its vehicle fleet.

National Highways intend the publish the Delivery Plan Update for 2024/25 later this year.