Potholes beware: UK’s roads to get a £1.3bn boost in Philip Hammond’s infrastructure-intensive first Autumn Statement
A £1.3bn funding boost to go towards improving Britain's roads will be one of the key infrastructure policies announced in Philip Hammond's Autumn Statement next week.
Infrastructure investment will be "at the heart" of the mini-Budget, the government said today, will policies targeting long-term economic growth and productivity. An industrial strategy will also be published in the coming weeks.
The roads investment will prioritise small projects that will relieve congestion and "deliver much needed upgrades on existing networks".
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The £1.3bn will be split between £1.1bn to reduce congestion and upgrade vital local roads and public transport networks, £220m to tackle pinch-points on Highways England roads and the acceptance of the National Infrastructure Commission's recommendation to back an expressway connecting Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge with £27m in funding.
Congestion is estimated to already cost UK households over £13bn every year and "by 2040 the equivalent of more than 100m working days could be lost unless action is taken," the government said.
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Hammond is expected to pledge billions of pounds for projects all over Britain, perhaps as much as £15bn in the transport network and small-scale infrastructure projects.
However, the swing towards infrastructure backing has caused some, such as the Centre for Policy Studies, to caution against increased public spending in the area. The Centre for Policy Studies has warned that warned that 90 per cent of large infrastructure projects are over budget, while the same is true of almost half of rail projects, which are also expected to get a boost in the Autumn Statement.