The Government is committed to enabling local highway authorities to maintain and renew their local highway networks. Decisions on which materials to use to repair their roads are matters for local highway authorities, but the Government encourages them to trial innovative processes and materials. The Department is currently supporting a £30 million “Live Labs” research programme, part of which allows innovative and environmentally friendly road-mending materials of this sort to be trialled and evaluated. The lessons learned will be shared with other local highway authorities.

A number of UK research institutions, including Swansea and Cambridge universities, are working on advanced materials, including self-healing asphalt, for filling potholes and resurfacing roads. Self-healing asphalt could potentially help prevent cracks from turning into potholes, but the technology is at an early stage and has not been tested at scale.

It is the responsibility of each local highway authority to manage its road network and to decide what materials are used for any resurfacing. These decisions should be based on local needs and priorities. Organisations undertaking works on the highway should have up to date risk assessments and Health and Safety Plans in line with current Health and Safety legislation.

The Government encourages the use of warm-mix asphalts to reduce the health and safety risks associated with the production and laying of asphalt at higher temperatures. Warm-mix asphalts reduce the risk of burns, and fume generation is reduced by around 50% for each 10°C reduction in temperature.

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.

The TS2010 is a specification that has been adopted in Scotland because it is considered that it offers durability benefits that are tailored to their environmental conditions. For the Strategic Road Network in England, National Highways has a wide range of Thin Surface Course Systems products some of which are very similar to TS2010 which provide the associated durability benefits while meeting National Highways’ additional safety requirements. For local roads in England, Local highway authorities have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the highways network in their area. The Act does not set out specific standards of maintenance, as it is for each individual 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.

Bitumen is in the trade sanctions for Russia (under oil products). It is a by-product of oil refining and is a product that has been supplied to the UK from a number of countries. The Government regularly engages with firms in the construction sector about the supply of products, and the supply of bitumen from non-Russian sources has not been raised as a concern. In particular, National Highways has been working with its supply chain to confirm compliance with sanctions and to ensure ongoing certainty of supply.

Warm mix asphalt is National Highways preferred choice of asphalt for all its road schemes and it is accelerating its use as standard across its supply chain as part of a drive toward net zero carbon emissions. More information can be found on National Highways’ website on Net zero highways: https://nationalhighways.co.uk/netzerohighways/.

For local roads, it is for each individual local highway authority to assess which parts of its network need repair and what standards and materials, including warm-mix asphalts, should be applied, based upon their local knowledge and circumstances.

As announced in the October 2021 Spending Review, the Government is investing over £2.7 billion over the next three years for local highway maintenance in England, outside London, in places not receiving City Region Settlements. This includes those places’ share of the £500 million per annum Pothole Fund announced at Budget 2020.

The three-year funding settlement will help local highway authorities plan effectively for managing their highways assets, from tackling potholes to repairing bridges and other asset defects across their local road networks.

The Department for Transport encourages good practice in local highway maintenance for all local highway authorities and endorses the UK Roads Liaison Group’s Code of Practice on Well Managed Highway Infrastructure.

As part of the Incentive Element, the Department requires local highway authorities to provide an online portal for members of the public to report potholes and other highway defects.

The Department is funding three projects specifically aimed at reducing carbon by using sustainable materials through the Live Labs programme, a £22.9 million research programme.

It is for each local authority to decide how best to maintain their local highways assets.

As announced in the October 2021 Spending Review, the Government is investing over £2.7 billion over the next three years for local highway maintenance in England, outside London, in places not receiving City Region Settlements. This includes those places’ share of the £500 million per annum Pothole Fund announced at Budget 2020.

The three-year funding settlement will help local highway authorities plan effectively for managing their highways assets, from tackling potholes to repairing bridges and other asset defects across their local road networks.

The Department for Transport encourages good practice in local highway maintenance for all local highway authorities and endorses the UK Roads Liaison Group’s Code of Practice on Well Managed Highway Infrastructure.

As part of the Incentive Element, the Department requires local highway authorities to provide an online portal for members of the public to report potholes and other highway defects.

The Department is funding three projects specifically aimed at reducing carbon by using sustainable materials through the Live Labs programme, a £22.9 million research programme.

It is for each local authority to decide how best to maintain their local highways assets.

Public rights of way are a local matter and are handled by individual local highway authorities.

Local authorities are required to keep a Rights of Way Improvement Plan (ROWIP) to plan improvements to their network, which is usually available on the authority’s website. I would hope local authorities, whenever possible, would look at the needs of all users, including walkers, cyclists and horse-riders. Safety must be a consideration in this process.

Local authorities receive most of their rights of way funding from central Government through the Revenue Support Grant to deliver various duties, including ROWIPs. It is not ring-fenced and we cannot say how much authorities should spend on ROWIPs. It is up to local authorities to manage their own budgets and decide how much they should spend on their different duties, and for local people to hold them to account.

My right hon. Friend will be familiar with the benefits, both environmental and economic, of warm mix asphalt. What are the Government doing to ensure that the use of such asphalt on our roads is the norm rather than the exception? It is the norm in north America and increasingly in parts of Europe, but not here. The reason it is not the norm here yet is bureaucratic red tape. Will he take action to cut that red tape?

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this important point. The Department recognises that warm mix asphalt may provide environmental benefits, through energy saving, lowered emissions and providing increased durability. Authorities should use what they think is best to ensure that their roads are maintained and safe, while also addressing climate commitments.

The Government is committed to exploring innovative ideas and processes for constructing, repairing and maintaining road surfaces. The Department for Transport is aware of a number of initiatives, both here in England and overseas, in which recycled plastic and other waste product materials are added as a binding mix to asphalt. Technological innovation in road maintenance processes can also improve efficiency and reduce waste by recycling existing road material.

As part of a Live Labs research programme, the Department for Transport, in conjunction with the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT) and private partners, announced in January 2019 that we were providing Cumbria County Council with £16 million to extend a trial for the selection and testing of recycled plastic in surfacing and structural treatments on the Local Road Network for which they are responsible. This trial will assess the suitability and durability of the plastics additives from minor patching work and pothole repairs through to major resurfacing.

Elsewhere, on the Strategic Road Network, Highways England is committed to investing in innovation to help meet the economic, environmental and efficiency challenges we face in our changing world. Its Innovation Designated Fund provides £150 million in the first Road Investment Strategy for innovation capital projects to discover and implement emerging technologies, new materials and ways of working. Highways England currently has no plans to deploy blended recycled plastic with bitumen in road surfaces, but it continues to investigate its potential for future use.

A trial of asphalt containing Ground Tyre Rubber was successfully completed along the M1 motorway in May 2019. By including a small amount of Ground Tyre Rubber into the asphalt surface it can present a good opportunity to re-cycle tyre rubber at its end-of-life, while not undermining asphalt properties and performance.