Government stalls on road charging

Roads contractors face a potential slowdown on major road schemes, estimated at £4.8bn, in the next seven years because the government has not made up its mind about road charging.

The Jam Tomorrow? The Multi-Modal Study Investment Plans report by the transport select committee, which summarises the effectiveness of the government's transport studies, says the government cannot outline future road schemes until it has decided whether to implement inter-urban road charging.

Without a common position, the committee said it was wrong of the Department for Transport (DfT) to design the multi-billion pound road expansion schemes outlined in the studies.

The Highways Agency (HA) has been advised to review its DfT design guidance on the issue before procuring any future work.

HA chief executive Tim Matthews told the committee in an evidence session that the decision on whether the government implements road charging "would affect future road designs". He also hinted that the HA would not press forward with multi-million pound schemes that have uncertainties over road charging.

One contractor told CJ that the uncertainty over road charging was making civils contractors nervous and that a lull in the roll-out of work would make it harder to keep good staff while waiting for projects to come on-line.

A DfT spokesman said no decision on road charging was expected in the near future.

Evidence to the committee shows that none of the consultants carrying out the 22 multi-modal studies were briefed by the DfT on whether road charging should be considered in the research.