The new rules are designed to encourage more pupils and parents to walk or cycle to Hotspur Primary School in Heaton. The pilot scheme will run for 18 months starting from the 13th of June, with the roads being closed between 8 – 9:30 am and 2 – 4 pm.

The School Streets scheme hopes to create more pedestrian and cycling zones around the school. However, vehicle access will still be available for local residents, school staff, emergency services and blue badge holders. The public will be able to offer feedback during the first six months of the trial, and if it’s successful, other schools could follow.

Kevin McVittie, headteacher at Hotspur Primary School, said: “The roads around [the school] can become very congested at the beginning and end of the day, so we really welcome the introduction of the School Streets scheme, as it means it will be much safer for our children and much better for local residents.

“The scheme also builds on the messages about healthy living that we give to children in school by further encouraging walking, cycling or scooting to school.”

Similar schemes were introduced in different areas of the UK earlier in the year. In January, two schools in Milton Keynes trialled closing nearby streets for a six month period, in a bid to improve safety and air quality by discouraging car journeys and encouraging walking or cycling.

Meanwhile, other schools are taking a different approach to combat dangerous driving practices. Cartoon cut-outs were placed outside the gates of a school in Plymouth to try and discourage drivers from illegally parking too close to the entrance.

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Emergency areas on the four aforementioned schemes will be placed around 1.5 miles apart – almost double the distance of the new target promised by government ministers. As the policy was introduced after the design of these projects, Highways England is technically not breaking any rules or promises. 

However, in January of this year, the DfT publicly supported a recommendation from the Transport Select Committee that states: “The Department and National Highways should retrofit emergency refuge areas to existing all-lane running motorways to make them a maximum of 1,500 metres apart, decreasing to every 1,000 metres (0.75 miles) where physically possible.

“The Stocktake and Action Plan launched a new standard to achieve closer spacing of EAs at 0.75 miles where feasible, up to a maximum of 1 mile. This is now a design requirement for new ALR smart motorways schemes which entered the design phase from November 2020.’”

These issues have sparked concerns over new stretches of all-lane-running motorways that will not comply with the latest policy, such as one situated in Hampshire. For around 30 miles of road, there are only 13 emergency areas, leaving distances between refuge locations of over double the recommended length of 0.75 miles.

Louise Haigh, the shadow secretary of state for transport, said: “This exposes the glaring flaws in the Transport Secretary’s action plan. It looks like ministers are cutting corners with road safety and risking more avoidable tragedies. The Government should stop taking people for fools, think again, and guarantee safety work is completed before the new smart motorways are opened.”

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An eight-year contract has been laid out, which will begin in July 2022. Colas will take the reins on the important tasks of routine maintenance, repairing defects and responding to emergency incidents. Navigating severe weather services will also fall under their remit.

Andrew Jinks, regional operations director for the Midlands at National Highways, said “By working more closely with our supply chain partners on routine maintenance, repairs and incident response, we’re able to work more effectively, identifying innovative ways of working and provide the best possible quality of service to road users.

“We’re delighted that Colas has been awarded this contract and look forward to working with them, driving improvement and strengthening our regional expertise.” 

Colas Ltd is a UK-based company that provides civil engineering solutions. It is taking over at the end of the three-year contract currently with Kier. Area 9 contains over 2000 miles of motorway and trunk roads, making this a huge opportunity for the business. 

CEO of Colas Ltd, Carl Fergusson, said: “Everyone at Colas is delighted that we are continuing to build on our successful relationship with National Highways with this new, significant, contract award.

“We are looking forward to establishing a highly effective collaborative working relationship in Area 9 with National Highways and our supply chain partners as part of the contract, and in working towards the common goal of reducing carbon emissions to achieve net-zero.”

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3i Infrastructure, a London Stock Exchange-listed business, has obtained a 92% stake in SRL, cementing its position as a controlling shareholder. SRL has plans for growth following the deal, hoping to expand into new markets, as well as create fresh products.

SRL is already thought to be the UK and Ireland’s largest provider of temporary Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), which provide innovative solutions for traffic management. The company states that the “narrowing of the technological divide between temporary and permanent technology” is at the core of its new developments. 

The business has undergone various changes in the last few years, including a management buyout in 2019. Since then, a diverse range of products has been introduced to the market, such as a modern variable message sign (VMS) fleet, work-zone protection barriers, CCTV, and portable Urban Traffic Management and Control (UTMC) technology.

SRL is currently being led by CEO Adrian Murphy, who was a new addition to the company in April. 

Speaking about the future of the business, Mr Murphy said: “SRL has achieved stunning growth since 2019, and the buyout will enable the company to continue along this trajectory, bringing industry-leading, innovative mobile ITS solutions for hire and sale to our expanding market, along with further developments to our renowned customer service offer.

“In the meantime, so far as our customers are concerned, on an operational level, it will be 100% business-as-usual.”

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Local councils have always viewed repairing potholes as a priority, and despite problems caused by the pandemic, potholes were still being fixed at a rate of one every 19 seconds. 

Now, the LGA is putting pressure on the Government to reinstate the budget in their upcoming spending review. Rather than meeting their usual annual budget target, the LGA feels it should include an additional £500 million each year.

Cllr David Renard, the transport spokesperson for the LGA, said: “Councils are working hard to keep our roads safe and resilient, repairing potholes as quickly as they can. However, it would already take £10bn and more than a decade to clear the current local roads repair backlog, with the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent cancellation of key planned works risking extending this backlog further.

“With long-term and consistent investment in local road maintenance in the Spending Review, councils can embark on the widespread improvement of our roads that is desperately needed, to the benefit of all road users up and down the country, including cyclists.”

The result of global supply issues means that there has been a significant increase in the cost of road maintenance and highways construction. The LGA is urging that inflation rates be taken into account in future funding allocations.

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