Road repair fund
“Drop in the ocean”, says the AA
The AA has labelled the government’s £420 million road repairs fund, unveiled in chancellor Philip Hammond’s budget last week, as “a drop in the ocean”. The proposals are part of a £30 billion investment in England’s road network.
Building on plans first announced in 2015, Hammond intends for all revenue from vehicle excise duty (VED), totalling £28.8bn, to be given to Highways England to spend on upgrading and maintaining motorways and other major roads. It’s the first time that road tax has been spent solely on the UK’S road network.
The spending marks a 40% improvement on the £17.6bn the Treasury spent in the previous five-year cycle, which helped fund work on the A1(M), A66 trans-pennine route and the proposed Oxfordcambridge Expressway.
Alongside this, £420m will be distributed to councils to “fix potholes, bridge repairs and other minor works in this financial year”. Hammond claimed every member of parliament “will testify potholes are high on the public’s list of concerns”. He also earmarked £150m for improving local road junctions and roundabouts.
Edmund King, president of the AA, has called the new pothole fund an “immediate treat”, which has to be spent by the end of April. However, King also said: “The ‘trick’ is the pothole backlog of £9bn. Therefore, the ‘treat’ is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. The race is on to get working on UK roads before winter sets in.”
VED will rise on 1 April 2019 in line with the retail price index (RPI). The Treasury is also set to review the impact of the new WLTP emissions test procedure on company car tax and VED, with a report due in the spring.
King called existing policies to raise company car tax on electric cars to 16% in 2019 and then bring it down to 2% the following year “ridiculous”.
Fuel duty will be frozen for the ninth consecutive year, a move welcomed by several industry bodies.
As part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, supporting technological development, £78m will be set aside to support “innovation in electric motor technology”.