By Jaimie Kaffash
19 July 2010
The government will invest more in highways maintenance than in new infrastructure projects, transport minister Norman Baker suggested today.
Baker was speaking at the launch of CIPFA's TransportInfrastructure Assets Code in London. The code, commissioned by the Treasury, recommends an ‘asset management’ approach to infrastructure, which plans for the whole life of a project rather than just start-up costs. The minister said that, ‘conservatively’, 5% of highways maintenance expenditure could be saved with this approach – worth ‘hundreds of millions of pounds to local authorities’.
The minister claimed that investment in existing infrastructure provided as much value for money as successful new projects. ‘Evidence shows that investment in maintenance of existing infrastructure can provide as good an economic return as the best newbuild projects,’ he told delegates.
‘In the past, we have been too keen on projects where a local or national worthy cuts a ribbon and declares a project open. But if we neglect to consider the ongoing investment in the whole life of the asset, we waste money.’
The minister said that the socioeconomic benefits of good local highways could not be overstated. ‘That is why I thought it was essential to ensure that my department’s highways maintenance allocation schemes for 2010/11 should be safeguarded and why we decided against cutting the budget for repairing the damage from the severe winter.’
CIPFA’s code ‘uses a whole-life cost-based approach to highways maintenance underpinned by life cycle planning’. It says it will help councils to understand the consequences of different maintenance strategies and supports long-term financial planning. The code is the result of a recommendation from CIPFA’s 2008 review of local authority transport assets.
