MPs slam Highways Agency for winter road chaos

30 Oct 03
MPs this week blasted the Highways Agency for its poor management of Britain's roads last winter, just hours after industrialists claimed the transport network was at 'breaking point'.

31 October 2003

MPs this week blasted the Highways Agency for its poor management of Britain's roads last winter, just hours after industrialists claimed the transport network was at 'breaking point'.

In a damning report published on October 29, the Commons' transport select committee said that the agency's failure to rectify a simple communications problem with its maintenance fleet, leading to four days of gridlock on Britain's frozen roads in January, was 'utterly astounding'.

The Labour-dominated committee called for financial penalties in the event of future failures to maintain roads, arguing that the inaction of the agency meant the public paid 'an unacceptably heavy price'.

The report followed incidents in which the agency was unaware of severe problems on key routes across Britain last winter and failed to co-ordinate an effective response across its contractors.

Committee members said the absence of financial penalties for the agency was 'intolerable'.

The MPs' report followed an October 28 CBI study which claimed that Britain's transport network, including its congested roads, was crippling economic growth.

John Cridland, CBI deputy director-general, said transport was a 'thorn in the side' of business.

Meanwhile, Transport Secretary Alistair Darling has attempted to solve long-running problems with the maintenance of Birmingham's local road network by unveiling a £2.2bn Private Finance Initiative scheme – the second biggest deal of its kind in England.

The Department for Transport will provide £379m of PFI credits to help upgrade Birmingham City Council's roads, footways, street lighting, bridges and traffic signals over a 25-year period. The rest of the cash will come from private firms involved in the project.

Road conditions across the city have deteriorated rapidly. A recent report described the condition of 15% of the network as 'critical'.

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