On the back of a planned spending programme from the DfT, including £6bn capital funding for local roads and £15bn for Highways England, Mr Dowie asked delegates at a Westminster Energy, Environment and Transport Forum event this month: ‘What should be keeping me up at night?’
An official from a major county council complained that huge local revenue cuts were compounded by the increase in spending on the national network with contractors putting up prices for smaller works.
Mr Dowie responded: ‘The position between national roads and local roads is not a level playing field. Of course the resource side of local government spending comes from the local government system, which had borne a very high proportion of the post-2010 cuts. I can’t stand here and give you solutions, [but] let’s see if over this parliament we can do something to help the local authority side and get a better condition on the road network in the round. It is discussed within government, watch this space. It might not get filled but we might be able to help. We do “get” there is a fundamental problem looming,’ he said.
‘I think there is a danger that you end up as the second best customer in the supply chain. I have certainly over the years seen, let’s be frank, pretty disgraceful contractor behaviour to local government, which they would not dare do to Highways England because they don’t see you as an ongoing customer, certainly for enhancements.
'We have a collective interest, Highways England, the department, local government, the contracting side, to try and invest now to build the capacity of the future.’
In terms of private sector capacity, Mr Dowie conceded this was ‘probably the biggest worry from the point of view of central government, as it is the hardest one to pull levers so you actually have an impact’.
‘There has to be a point at which the supply sector starts taking the business risk and gearing up for the undoubted wave of investment sweeping through the relevant sectors. It does require investment in skills and developing the next generation but this is not a short-term wave. This is for the long haul and capacity has to be built accordingly.’
In the public sector, Mr Dowie suggested capacity issues could be countered by localism and the Government’s devolution deals.
‘There are worries on the local government side about the ongoing effects of austerity beginning to hollow out some authorities. We are certainly a long way from the county surveyors of the 1960s so that is a worry. Maybe the localism agenda and more pooling of procurement, of capacity, sharing of specialist skills at city, regional, Transport for the North level might provide part of a solution to this.’
Mr Dowie also addressed the issue of local levies to support transport infrastructure for housing and commercial developments, following complaints from both council members and officials in Surveyor that the Community Infrastructure Levy, Section 106 and the New Homes bonus were deficient.
He highlighted that Highways England ‘specifically set aside money in the roads investment strategy last autumn for small schemes’ and also pointed to the ongoing rounds of the Local Growth Fund and pinch point monies, which could help unlock developments.
Public and private sector sources have also told Surveyor that procurement has become a barrier to scheme delivery. Mr Dowie responded: ‘I have sympathy and recognition on the point about processes [in procurement]. It is an issue for the department as well. I think there is a lot of room to challenge the procurement experts in terms of gold plating.
‘You can overdo it, particularly for smaller contracts, we don’t need all the belts and braces. That’s when a procurement specialist should be taken as a really important source of advice and expertise, not necessarily as the definitive gospel. But that’s a debate each authority has to have within itself I think.’
