Ian McCulloch, partner at Bircham Dyson Bell LLP, doubts whether the review of the Highways Agency by its non-executive chairman, Alan Cook, to be completed by October 2011, will go far enough to address the key issue of how best to improve and maintain the UK's motorways and trunk roads.
"Although the review may be quite searching, including examining the Agency's relationship with government and a possible different business model, it should consider the option of hiving off the Agency from central government altogether," explains Ian McCulloch.
"Our roads are a public utility with finite capacity. They are a commodity whose use needs to be optimised and there should be a closer correlation between the use made of the commodity and the price paid for it.
"There is no reason in principle why our roads should not be managed and the road space supplied in the same way that other utilities offer their service, such as the railways, the canal system, water, gas and electricity. They are all subject to regulation in order to protect customers and the public interest and they are set enforceable targets by their regulator. They operate with greater autonomy than any executive agency of central government releasing the utility from the manacle of central government control, giving greater accountability to customers and allowing new ways to finance much needed improvements."
The current obstacles to change are the government's refusal to consider nationwide road pricing (it is expressly excluded from the scope of Alan Cook's review), The Treasury, who want to keep the large unhypothecated annual revenue from the current tax system, and the motorists themselves who believe that, once they have paid vehicle excise duty and filled a car with fuel, the road is 'free', overlooking the poor value received for the amount paid, especially when experiencing congestion and delays.
Road pricing would make drivers conscious of the cost of motoring at the time of use. When the cost of a journey varies according to the road used, the time of day and the type of vehicle driven, the motorist is likely to make choices that reduce the cost to them unless they must travel at a premium time.
"This would cause better use of the road capacity, discourage excessive or needless use of the car and defer the need for new roads," argues Ian McCulloch.
"The technology is there and the privacy argument is a red herring. As on the continent, legislation can ensure that data collected will not be used for any other purpose; and if it is kept by an independent highway utility, the government will not have access to it.
"However good the Agency is at managing the network, only structural change that allows for road pricing and other new financing mechanisms will bring about the behavioural transformation that is needed.
"Mr Cook should be allowed to explore these issues. He should not only review how much scope there is for the Agency to become more effective; he should also report on how much more could be achieved by a more fundamental approach to the question he has been set."
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