The Midlands finally has a real say in roads funding and it’s time to make that influence count, Maria Machancoses, director of Midlands Connect, argues.
Highways England has more money than ever before to spend on road improvements over the five years from 2020.
The Governments set a £28.8bn budget for improvements to the Strategic Road Network (SRN), Large Local Majors (LLM) and the Major Road Network (MRN) – a new tier of significant A roads sitting underneath the SRN.
It’s a welcome investment, but how do we make sure the money is spent in the right places, where the economic and social benefits are greatest? And what influence can the regions have on central government decision making?
The Road Investment Strategy period from 2020-2025 (RIS 2) will benefit from the influence and expertise of sub-national transport bodies (STBs) like Midlands Connect for the first time. Our partnership brings together the Department for Transport (DfT) Highways England, local authorities, LEPs and chambers of commerce - all with their own views on where funding should be targeted. It is our job to ensure the collective voice of the Midlands is heard.
Getting the best from RIS 2
In March, Midlands Connect published its RIS2 priorities, to ensure our region makes the most of the record funding pot available, ahead of scheme announcements later this year.
While the national dialogue continues to focus on the north-south divide, it is my job to remind decision makers that properly funding infrastructure in the Midlands – a region of 10 million people at the crossroads of the national road network – is integral to the UK economy, with a third of all road freight travelling to, from or through the Midlands.
Our priorities include schemes to ensure promises made in RIS 1 are delivered in RIS 2, and a commitment to work with the government to develop and deliver shovel-ready schemes during RIS 2 that could have an immediate economic impact, regionally and nationally.
We continue to work with MPs, councils, and crucially businesses like Siemens to push for the construction of existing schemes like the A46 Northern Newark Bypass, to ease one of the worst bottlenecks in the region, and the second phase of A50 improvements near Uttoxeter, so important to the growth ambitions of huge firms like JCB.
Crucially, our offer to work with Highways England, the Government and regional partners to develop new schemes in RIS 2 – such as the A49 Hereford Bypass and M6 Junction 15 improvements at Stoke-on-Trent - has been received positively by roads minister Jesse Norman, who is keen to work more closely with us to inform local, regional and national decision-making.
Our asks are ambitious, but wholly reasonable; achievable, but not outlandish. Our RIS priorities also seek to look beyond the often constrained prism of five-year funding periods, towards a more flexible, long term approach.
Removing artificial boundaries
Since our landmark 2017 Strategy was published, Midlands Connect’s evidence base for infrastructure improvements has been developed along economic corridors, with the road network at their heart.
We’re making the case for investment in the A46, for example, by demonstrating for the first time that it’s one of the country’s most important trade routes, with ports at the Humber and Bristol Channel at either end and links to the M5, M6, M40 and M1 as it snakes for 155 miles through the Midlands.
Businesses along the A46 corridor generate £115bn a year, and export half of the Midlands’ goods. They’re also more likely to be in industries dependent on a reliable road network – advanced manufacturers, logistics, agri-tech and automotive firms abound here. A quarter of the corridor’s goods are exported internationally, well above the national average.
Our 20-year investment strategy for the A46 corridor is being replicated with our work on the A5, crossing Staffordshire and the Leicestershire/Warwickshire border, and the A50/A500 between Stoke-on-Trent and Derby. For the first time, we have a plan to transform entire corridors, not just a sticking plaster approach to individual junctions or bottlenecks. This approach ensures the best possible chance of generating jobs, attracting inward investment, facilitating housing development and growing communities.
As we develop our corridor approach, we’re asking for a formal role alongside Highways England and the DfT to future-proof a pipeline of schemes beyond the artificial boundaries of traditional five-year rolling funding periods.
Influencing the new major road network
Nowhere is the collaboration between local, regional and national agencies better evidenced than with the establishment of the MRN, a new tier of the most important local authority roads with its own funding allocation for schemes up to £50m each.
STBs have been empowered by the Government to prioritise and submit 10 MRN schemes with the greatest economic potential, by developing a regional evidence base with our local highways authority partners.
It’s been a detailed and comprehensive process, and councils have put in a huge amount of effort to give their schemes the best chance of success, conscious that only those with the strongest business cases and promises of at least 15% local funding will be considered.
Our 10 priority schemes for MRN investment from 2020-2025 are due to be submitted to the DfT in July, and we expect the Government to take us seriously. We’ve also been clear about how to improve the process. We believe regions should be given specific funding allocations to work from, rather than each area being asked to submit an arbitrary 10 schemes each, regardless of their size, population or economic significance. If, as it should be, the MRN is about rebalancing the economy, regional allocations are the only way to do this fairly, in line with the government’s own Rebalancing Toolkit.
Nevertheless, the Government’s willingness to work with us, and learn from us, on the MRN has been heartening, and we’re already looking forward to “MRN 2”, from 2025-2030, and working with Whitehall to improve the fund’s scope, scale and implementation so that each region gets a fair deal.
Prioritising Large Local Majors
For the first time, STBs like Midlands Connect have also been tasked with submitting priority schemes for bigger road projects eligible for Large Local Major (LLM) funding, using the same evidence gathering and sifting process as the MRN.
A small number of schemes with total values of more than £50m will be submitted alongside our MRN priorities. Again, the process has been a learning curve, primarily because no one knows how much LLM funding is available; the £3.5bn pot for both MRN and LLM schemes hasn’t been broken down. However, now we can speak with one voice for the Midlands, we’re in a much stronger position to challenge the Government’s approach and push for reform.
Why road investment needs regional influence
I am often asked why Midlands Connect exists. The answer is simple; to improve quality of life in the Midlands. That takes a multitude of forms: better access to jobs and leisure activities; a more reliable network for businesses that depend on moving people and goods; access to more good quality homes for people to live in. The investment we secure must lead to sustainable growth. Only with a long-term plan can we ensure the Midlands’ continued economic and social success in the face of rising demand for our transport infrastructure, the rapid pace of technological advances and the impact of climate change.
The level of commitment from leaders across the Midlands to speak with one collective voice on what our region needs is unprecedented; this puts us in its strongest ever position to secure the investment it needs to thrive. For the first time, we have the evidence to prove what improvements are needed and why, and I sincerely hope our efforts are acknowledged and reflected in the government’s forthcoming transport spending announcements.
