Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the (a) potential cost and (b) carbon savings achieved through using (i) recycled materials, (ii) graphene additives,(iii) Elastomac and (iv) other innovative road repair technologies; and whether she plans to issue updated guidance to local authorities on the wider adoption of such technologies.

The Government takes the condition of local roads very seriously and is determined to support local highway authorities in adopting new and innovative technologies to maintain and improve their highway networks in a way that is cost effective and reduces carbon impacts.

While no estimate has been made of the potential cost and carbon savings achieved through using recycled materials, graphene additives, Elastomac and other innovative road repair technologies, the Department for Transport is taking a range of action that will support these sorts of innovative solutions.

This year, the Government made available an additional £500m for local highways maintenance. 25% of that uplift is subject to local highway authorities demonstrating how they are complying with best practice in highways maintenance, including in relation to adopting innovative technologies and reducing carbon impacts.

The Department has also funded Live Labs 2, a three-year, £30 million programme designed to support the local highways sector to adopt innovation and reduce its carbon impacts. Projects funded under the programme include the trialling and demonstration of sustainable materials and processes, such as warm-mix asphalts and asphalt modifiers, and the creation of toolkits and databases so that all local highway authorities can access findings and lessons learned from the programme.

The Department is also supporting a new Carbon Leadership Programme, which will support local highway authorities in benchmarking the carbon intensity of their operations and gain insights into actions they could take to reduce carbon emissions.

Finally, the Department is currently updating the Code of Practice for Well Managed Highways Infrastructure. This update will ensure the Code reflects the latest best practice on innovative and low-carbon road repair technologies.