The Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) has highlighted a trio of asks for the next government, including a total expenditure (totex) approach to transport infrastructure.
This is when the whole life cost of transport infrastructure, including ongoing maintenance, are ‘resourced appropriately’.
Sources across local and national government have previously bemoaned the country's failure to provide suitable capital and revenue resources for projects and to understand the key link between construction and maintenance.
CIHT also calls for a UK national transport strategy as well as regional infrastructure delivery plans.
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CIHT chief executive Sue Percy
Chief executive Sue Percy said: ‘Certainty of funding and investment is fundamental, so the on-going development of industrial and housing strategies remains key. Any future investment must include the whole-life maintenance of this transport infrastructure.’
The CIHT’s key actions for a new government are:
- Transport recognised as a fundamental part of the creation of better places to live and work
- The introduction of a UK National Transport Strategy as the basis for an effective and coordinated programme of infrastructure investment that enables economic growth and gives business confidence to invest in the UK
- The adoption of infrastructure delivery plans at the sub-national level
- Certainty of funding for all transport infrastructure with investment in connectivity, both physically and digitally, at a sub-national level
- Government to introduce a total expenditure approach to transport infrastructure investment for all sectors to help address shortfalls in maintenance spending, which tends to operate on annualised budgets
- Government to invest in skills development and the sector to become more representative of the society it serves
- Enable the highways and transportation industry to embrace innovation and become less risk-averse by ensuring that public, private and academic sectors work together and reviewing procurement legislation to enable and encourage innovation. This could encourage a change in attitude to the balance of risk between the public and private sectors, the CIHT said.
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