Transport for London has pushed back against criticism from the influential leader of a London Borough over the allocation of central government highways funding.
The capital’s mayor, Sadiq Khan has long called for vehicle excise duty (VED) paid by Londoners to be devolved to his administration but Bromley LBC leader Colin Smith told Highways' sister publication, The MJ, that devolved VED should be allocated directly to the capital’s 32 boroughs.
London Councils has named devolution of VED as one of ‘immediate priorities for funding reform to deliver greater financial autonomy’ and Mr Smith, a member of the organisation’s fiscal devolution task and finish group, said: ‘I increasingly believe that this idea is of its time, given the parlous state of local government finances, quite possibly by up to 100.'
He added: ‘My only caveat for London would be that the funding must be allocated to the 32 boroughs directly, rather than via TfL, which in recent years has shamelessly swallowed up Government funding for things like pothole repairs, without distributing it to us locally as they should be, as the intended end users.’
Kew Bridge is on one of TfL's red routes
However, TfL pointed out that it receives no Government funding for maintaining its network of red route roads or maintaining borough roads and plays no role in allocating funding for this purpose.
A spokesperson said: ‘TfL continues to provide a small allocation each year from its own funds to support borough road and bridge maintenance, working with the London Technical Advisors Group (LoTAG) to ensure this is allocated fairly; however, due to the current funding system, boroughs must directly fund the majority of repairs to their roads.'
The spokesperson added that whenever the Government has provided other funding for London’s roads via TfL, ‘we have worked collaboratively with LoTAG to ensure this is distributed fairly and transparently to all London highway authorities'.
‘We continue to work with LoTAG to collect data that supports the case for investing in London’s roads,’ the spokesperson said.
TfL pointed out that although Major Road Network (MRN) funding from the Department for Transport (DfT), funded from VED, theoretically covers strategic roads in London, it has received no MRN cash, despite working with the DfT for five years to obtain funding for schemes in the capital.
MRN schemes for which TfL has bid include Gallows Corner (renewal) , Brent Cross (renewal), Kew Bridge (renewal), Hope and Anchor (renewal), Wandsworth Town Centre (transformational scheme) and Catford Town Centre (transformational scheme).
The Local Government Association has called on all political parties to make a commitment in their General Election manifestos for a ‘small percentage’ of the cash to be handed to councils for road maintenance.
