ORR to undertake an investigation of National Highways’ performance
- The Office of Rail and Road has decided to investigate whether National Highways is taking every action that could reasonably be expected of it to meet its targets.
- Since it was created, National Highways has generally achieved its aims and delivered well for road users. However, performance has dipped and some targets are not currently on track.
- ORR's assessment is intended to give ORR and National Highways a common understanding of what is causing the current dip in performance, and what can reasonably be achieved in the final year of the road period.
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has opened an investigation into the performance of National Highways, the company responsible for operating, maintaining and upgrading the strategic road network in England. Since it was created, National Highways has generally achieved its aims and delivered well for road users.
During this time, ORR has worked with the company to successfully resolve individual issues before they have significantly impacted road users. ORR's annual assessment of National Highways' performance, published in July 2023, identified a number of potential risks, such as delivery of its capital portfolio and asset management strategy. Since then, ORR has observed that those risks have materialised, and performance has dipped across several areas.
ORR's investigation will look at the root causes of National Highways' current dip in performance, and whether the company has the right processes in place to deliver its agreed commitments by the end of the road period in March 2025. The investigation will look at whether the company has identified, and is taking, every action that could reasonably be expected of it to achieve the level of performance set by government in the road investment strategy, and at what can reasonably be achieved in the remaining months of the road period. ORR expects that lessons from this work will help to inform the appropriateness of performance commitments for National Highways in the third road period and support in the setting of the company's targets to be challenging and deliverable.
Feras Alshaker, Director of Planning and Performance at ORR, said: