Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing funding available to Highways England for the maintenance of flood resilience infrastructure.
National Highways undertakes flood resilience work on England’s motorways and trunk A roads through a combination of ongoing maintenance and renewals activity that extends the life of, or replaces, existing roads and structures. The Department has set the budgets for the financial year 2025/26 as part of the Autumn Budget 2024. This allocated £1.455 billion to operations and maintenance, and a further £1.951 billion to renewals as part of a wider £4.842 billion interim settlement for National Highways. Funding beyond this financial year will be confirmed through the ongoing Spending Review which is due to complete in late Spring 2025.