ICE responds to Transport Select Committee announcement on roads pricing

Responding to today’s announcement by the Transport Select Committee on national road pricing, Chris Richards, ICE’s Head of Policy and Public Affairs, said:

“Ensuring a fair, reliable and sustainable way of securing funding to improve and maintain our roads is crucial to safeguarding the UK’s economic and social well-being and it’s imperative that government act now. Having an open and frank conversation about how we will fund these roads in the future is important, particularly with the welcome and growing trend towards electric and low emission vehicle adoption.

“The Institution has previously recognised that the main sources of UK roads revenue – fuel duty and vehicle excise duty – are both in danger of significantly declining by 2030 without government intervention. The time has come for the idea of a pay-as-you-go system on England’s busiest roads as it will create a new and fair solution for road users of the future.”

Notes:

The Institution examined the challenges and opportunities of the UK implementing a pay as you go model across Britain’s Strategic Roads Network in a paper published earlier this year. This was an extension of the comprehensive assessment into infrastructure investment in its State of the Nation 2018.