Roads re-think
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The all-party Commons transport select committee has been reviewing the Government's public expenditure plans and found that the present level of maintenance is achieved only by local authorities' exceeding Government guidelines.
In 1983/84r expenditure reached £902m against a Government target of £831m. In the current financial year, the figure is £902m, and the committee — chaired by Labour MP Harry Cowane — says this is "unrealistic and short sighted".
It believes that local authori ties' willingness to exceed targets could be dismissed by curbs on their spending, and is worried that highway authorities could incur damages from those involved in accidents in which the condition of the road is a contributory factor.
"We strongly recommend that the Government should provide more realistic expenditure targets for local road maintenance expenditure in 1985/86 and subsequent financial years," the MPs have told the Government.
It has accepted that the Department of Transport is correct to make the annual renewal of 70 miles of motorway and 120 miles of other trunk roads its priority for maintenance, but hopes it will not ignore other road maintenance needs.
There have been signs of a small deterioration in trunk road maintenance, and it hopes the DTp will pay close attention to the condition of trunk roads and make sufficient funds available.
The committee has asked the DTp to pay serious attention to a British Road Federation suggestion that cash from the next year's DTp allocation should be brought forward to the current year where current funds have been exhausted.
This follows delays in the awarding of contracts where the DTp has overspent and cannot award new contracts until the next financial year.
The committee has warned the Government not to treat the £50m cut in this year's Transport Supplementary Grant to £400m as the first stage in phasing out the grant.
It supports in principle the idea of changing from the present capital and current expenditure TSG to a capital-only system, as this would give local authorities a greater incentive to achieve their capital expenditure targets.