Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he will take to support improving key roads that are official diversion routes for motorways that are not in the major road network.

Highways England and the relevant local authority work together to identify local roads that are official diversionary routes. As part of this, a risk assessment is undertaken to determine a route’s suitability. That assessment includes taking account of suitability and physical characteristics.

Diversion route planning is conducted in close liaison with the local highway authority traffic manager, and includes liaison with other key local stakeholders as deemed necessary by the authority.

The Government is providing over £6.6 billion funding for local highways maintenance between 2015 and 2021. It is for local highway authorities to decide how this funding is utilised, including on improvement of key diversionary roads, based on local needs and priorities.