The Government appears to have abandoned its commitment to create a National Roads Fund (NRF) through the hypothecation of vehicle excise duty (VED), undoing a long-standing promise without informing MPs or the public.
The move to quietly drop hypothecation comes hand-in-hand with a shift of billions of promised funds away from the local network to the national network, raising fears for the survival of the major road network (MRN) concept.
It also undoes a distinct part of the policy sell behind Highways England's second Road Investment Strategy (RIS 2) now worth £27.4bn.
Despite repeated requests from Highways, the Department for Transport and the Treasury have both declined to confirm that the pledge remains Government policy.
For the full version of this exclusive story, visit Highways Magazine.
