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Highways England – “the end of the beginning” - DfT's Dowie

Department of Transport director John Dowie explains the challenges for new company Highways England and its supply chain.

Granting of Royal Assent for the Infrastructure Act on 12 February gave a full green light for the creation of Highways England, the new government company charged with overseeing the investment in the Strategic Road Network.

For Department of Transport (DfT) director John Dowie it is a significant moment but very much the start of a journey to demonstrate to government that its planned investment of £15bn in the highways network over the next five years is set to be money well spent.

“I have no illusions that there is a lot to do – this is the end of the beginning,” he says, borrowing a line from Churchill.

“This is not just a framework for a road building government. It could just as equally be a framework for a sustainable transport driven government,” John Dowie DfT

“But don’t underestimate how far along the journey we have already got,” he adds. “There will be a Highways England in place by 1 April and it will be up and running and underpinned by legislation so that is a big success.”

The question of course is whether or not all this work to create focus on long term public funding for the strategic road network will survive the General Election and the needs of an incoming administration.  

Dowie is confident that it will – or at least that a structure and Road Investment Strategy has been created thus making it harder for investment plans to be changed at a stroke.

“It is entirely for any new government to decide the level and the purpose for which to spend funds on the trunk road network,” he says. 

“That is clear and a political reality - they could change the plan. But the difference is that in the past ministers could sit down with a single A3 spreadsheet of paper and completely recast the roads programme,” he explains, drawing on the painful experiences of this happening in the past.

“In the future government will need to set out its objectives and Highways England will need to set out the evidence and a consultation [will] happen – that is light years away from what we did have.”

However he also points out that the framework and strategy still gives future ministers flexibility to follow their chosen policies.

“The supply chain has to demonstrate publically that it is focused and engaged on this agenda and taking action – collectively that they are doing things together because they have to convince politicians that they are serious.” John Dowie DfT

This is not just a framework for a road building government. It could just as equally be a framework for a sustainable transport driven government,” he says. “At the end of the day it is about the government articulating its objectives - about a road sector led by Highways England.”

“There is a very strong once in a generation sense that infrastructure is now a crucial part of economic prosperity for UK and England. That will bode really well for the future of the trunk road network.”

He adds: “Different configurations of government will have different views on the precise outcomes and there may be a debate about the scale. But the fundamental point that trunk roads will be getting a substantial boost in investment is now beyond doubt.”

Capability challenge

Engaging the supply chain in the new world of longer term strategic highways funding will be critical as ultimately delivery is the measure by which Highways England and DfT will be judged. Dowie says that while the changes have been well received, there is a mix of views in industry over capability.

“I am getting ambivalent body language from the supply chain. Some say ‘don’t worry we’ll get people from overseas as China goes off the boil and there is less business in Australia’. Others tell me that actually this is much harder because there is a very competitive international market and that it takes time to train people up. I am not sure which is right.”

He adds: “The supply chain has to demonstrate publically that it is focused and engaged on this agenda and taking action – collectively that they are doing things together because they have to convince politicians that they are serious.”

“A new chief executive is absolutely crucial in driving that journey," John Dowie

Highways England is on a journey from being a civil service delivery organisation to a more commercially facing business acting on behalf of government and its customers. It has, says Dowie, the opportunity to take advantage of the greater flexibilities this structure presents so as to become more “partnership oriented”.

Of course the first big challenge is to find a new chief executive to lead the organisation following incumbent Graham Dalton’s decision to step down.

“A new chief executive is absolutely crucial in driving that journey,” Dowie says, highlighting that a change at the top is part of the signal for change. “All our hope is that in five years when we get to the second Road Investment Strategy cycle they feel a very different more dynamic organisation.”

Environmental friend

The Road Investment Strategy has attempted to build environmental protection in as a core part of the future delivery of the strategic road network but it also creates the capacity to remedy existing problems such as insensitive infrastructure built in the past, explains Dowie.

“There is a great opportunity for Highways England to establish a new relationship with the environmental movement,” he says. “I think that it is within Highways England’s grasp to be an intelligent considered body that truly thinks of the environment as a part of the planning process, not as a bolt on.”

“We need to be a smarter less intrusive sponsor for Highways England but more challenging when we need to be,” John Dowie DfT

The proposed Stonehenge tunnel scheme is one of the first big tests for Highways England – a problem that that has been ducked for the last two decades. .

“In the past we have had a penny minimisation debate about the length of the tunnel. Now we have readily agreed to build the right length of tunnel. But there is still a long way to go,” he says. 

“There are another five or ten schemes in the programme which in various ways do raise environmentally sensitive issues,” he adds. “Highways England will be judged by its effectiveness at delivering those.” 

Demanding client

Dowie points out that change is also vital at the DfT which faces the big challenge of adjusting to the new relationship with Highways England. 

“We need to be a smarter less intrusive sponsor for Highways England but more challenging when we need to be,” Dowie explains. “Looking back we have been too involved in too much but not always in a challenging way. (We need) to be a more demanding client.”

Right now, alongside work to monitor the delivery of the existing Road investment Strategy, DfT is working on the next iteration of the strategy – this time at much greater distance from the delivery arm.

“The 2014 Road Investment Strategy (RIS) was still very much a huddle between DfT and the Highways Agency. The RIS 2 should be much more transparent and there should be much more opportunity for outsiders to contribute,” he says. “We are now starting work on RIS 2 and we will be working hard to ensure local partners are even more engaged in the process.”

If you would like to contact Antony Oliver about this, or any other story, please email antony.oliver@infrastructure-intelligence.com.