Two organisations from the rail sector will oversee the performance of the new look Highways Agency, the transport minister John Hayes has announced.
In April 2014 it was announced that the Highways Agency will become a Government-owned company tasked with managing and operating England’s motorway and strategic A-road network. The changes are designed to save “at least £2.6bn over the next 10 years” and to make the new company “more accountable to Parliament and road users”. The DfT plans to bring the new company into operation in April 2015.
In a statement to Parliament earlier this week (28 Oct), John Hayes transport minister explained that the role of monitoring the new company will be performed by the Office of Rail Regulation, while the interests of road users will be represented by Passenger Focus, which will change its name to Transport Focus to better reflect its wider remit.
The detail of these arrangements are contained in a new document, Transparency for roads, which sets out the respective roles of the new monitor and watchdog.
John Hayes told Parliament: “Taken together with the measures in part 1 of the Infrastructure Bill, the proposed governance regime will provide a strong, certain framework for managing our roads.
“It will strengthen accountability, drive efficiency, increase transparency and create far more certain conditions for investment, enabling the supply chain to gear up for the Government’s ambitious plans for the future.”
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