Final Report National Roads Maintenance Review June 2012

Executive Summary

Scotland's road network, at over 55,000 km, is one of the country's largest community assets. It plays a vital role in supporting Scotland's economy and is essential for the long-term sustainability and development of Scotland's communities. Despite a focus on alternative travel and on reducing emissions over the last 15 years, total road usage has increased leading to the need for more frequent and more extensive maintenance. It is against this backdrop and within a period of constrained spending that Audit Scotland has identified that the overall condition of the road network has been deteriorating. The recent severe winters have exacerbated this deterioration and with the proportion of roads considered to be unacceptable increasing, the backlog has risen to a level where, without sustained increased investment to help address the maintenance backlog, further deterioration in the condition of our roads is inevitable.

Within this context of constrained spending and increasing demand there is a clear expectation on all public services to be bold and creative in delivering value and the Christie Commission Report highlights the benefits of longer term strategic planning and early interventions to achieve better outcomes. The maintenance of assets is recognised as crucial in this regard but the sector should also consider both short-term efficiencies alongside radical steps to deliver improvement in productivity and efficiency. In any event, significant additional investment will be required to deal with the backlog and deliver a sustainable road asset for future generations.

The National Roads Maintenance Review was initiated in response to the central recommendation of an Audit Scotland report of 2010 and has been directed by a Steering Group established for this purpose. The Steering Group partners (COSLA, SOLACE, SCOTS SRWC and Transport Scotland) were tasked with considering how the road maintenance sector can deliver efficiently managed roads for all within the budgets available, and identifying opportunities for innovation, collaborative working and the sharing of services. The review covered the whole of the road asset and also considered how the Scottish Government could work better with local authorities, and what can be learned from international road management practice.

The review has been conducted in the three distinct phases. Phase 1 focused on gathering evidence via four distinct Working Groups and identified seven broad themes as focus for change. Phase 2 built upon these themes and developed thirty specific options to improve service, increase value and generate anticipated efficiencies of around 10% of road maintenance spend. Phase 2 also developed a Strategic Framework for change and considered the wider socio-economic impacts of road maintenance concluding that spending £1 on road maintenance results in a £1.50 benefit to the wider Scottish economy and society.

The Strategic Framework comprised seven "Developments", aimed at embedding best practice across the sector, and three "Enhancements" to assist roads authorities in strengthening the business case for additional investment in road maintenance. The Phase 2 report was endorsed by the Minister for Housing and Transport and COSLA in November 2011.

In Phase 3, the Review sought to take action on the thirty Options, which included the implementation of some and more detailed appraisal and assessment of others. An update on option progress is contained within the report and although the publication of this report marks a formal end to the Review, it is clear that the work to deliver its outcomes will continue, The Strategic Framework will provide a focus for the delivery of future improvements.

Of particular note is Option 30 - an exploration of the optimal delivery of road maintenance services. This study has concluded that the sharing of services is likely to provide benefits and should be explored further in the short term. In addition the study concludes that structural reform is worthy of fuller exploration in the medium term, but only if the anticipated benefits of shared services are not sufficiently realised. The study further recommends the creation of a central resource to drive and support changes to road service delivery across Scotland.

Phase 3 of the Review recommends that a road maintenance stakeholder group is established to oversee the implementation of the options flowing from the Review; to ensure the continued deployment of the Strategic Framework for change; to establish the central resource recommended under Option 30 and; to assess whether the anticipated benefits are being fully realised.