Roads that will benefit from first round of HS2 funding announced

Local authorities have announced which roads are set to benefit from the first tranche of relocated HS2 funding.

Councils have already been paid £150 million to get on with the work and deliver improvements, with another £150 million following in this financial year. Some roads have already seen improvements.

As a condition of the funding, local authorities are required to publish a two-year plan detailing exactly which local roads will benefit.

The Department for Transport has revealed 102 of the 119 authorities that received funding have responded to the department’s survey request to set out their plans.  Local people are now able check the information on their local council’s website.

Having submitted their first reports last month, councils will now also be required to submit quarterly reports from June 2024, announcing work which has taken place over 3 months.

Transport secretary, Mark Harper, said: "We’re on the side of drivers, which is why this government is getting on with delivering our plan to invest an additional £8.3 billion in the biggest ever funding increase for local road improvements, made possible by reallocated HS2 funding.

"Alongside this unprecedented funding, which is already being used to improve local roads, we’re making sure local people can hold their local authority to account and see for themselves how the investment will be spent to improve local roads for years to come."

RAC Head of Policy, Simon Williams, said: "It’s very encouraging to see so many local authorities quickly setting out how they’ll use the first tranche of the government’s reallocated HS2 funding to improve their roads.

"Drivers will be pleased to see potholes fixed and roads resurfaced, especially as our research shows the poor state of local carriageways is their number-one concern. We hope councils will also use this extra money to carry out vital surface dressing work which helps prevent cracking in the cold winter months by sealing roads against water ingress. The prime time for this life-extending work is between April and September, so time is of the essence."

Rick Green, Chair of the Asphalt Industry Alliance, said: “The reallocated HS2 funding is a positive step, demonstrating the Government recognises that maintaining local roads is about more than filling in potholes and without this investment – which ramps up in the years ahead – the situation could be even worse.

“We have supported the need for transparency of funding allocations and the requirement for local authorities to report on the local roads to benefit will hopefully ensure the money is not diverted.

“But, as the Government itself says, this additional funding is only enough to resurface 5,000 miles of local roads over 11 years. This sounds like a lot, but it is just 2.7% of the network in England and London, where the funding is being made available, while our 2024 ALARM survey report highlights that there are already 31,000 miles of local roads reported to have less than 5 years’ life remaining.

“It is clear that the additional money, while welcome, is not going to be enough to halt the ongoing decline in conditions. We need to get to the point where local authority highway engineers can plan and proactively carry out repairs and preventative works in the most timely and efficient way to the greatest benefit of all road users.”