National News and Views

Jo Shanmugalingam appointed as new Second Permanent Secretary at DfT

The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced that Jo Shanmugalingam has been appointed as the new Second Permanent Secretary at DfT. She is currently a Director General at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and brings significant experience from across government departments.

Appointed following an open competition, the Second Permanent Secretary will provide leadership of a number of high-profile areas across DfT, including decarbonising transport, and will start formally at the end of May.

On Jo's appointment Mark Harper, Transport Secretary said:
'I am delighted to be welcoming Jo, who brings a wealth of experience from across government departments. I look forward to working with her to improve transport right across the country, including leading on delivering some of our top ambitions like decarbonisation and levelling up.'

More news of interest:

• Glasgow Central’s £1.2m platform improvement project is on-track
• Freightliner opens Ipswich Operational Training Academy
• BROOKESbuses to go electric and support Oxford’s net zero targets
• The University of Cambridge contributes nearly £30 billion to the UK economy and supports more than 86,000 jobs across the UK.
• New onboard announcements to make Britain’s buses accessible for everyone
• British Sign Language travel advice rolled out at major railway stations
• Asda and Wayve launch UK’s largest self-driving grocery home delivery trial
• TfL releases new detailed maps of the Superloop
• National Highways Chair moves on as fixed term comes to an end

Government spends 31 times more on maintaining motorways than repairing potholes

The Local Government Association reports that last year the government spent 31 times more per mile maintaining motorways than funding councils to repair potholes.

The government reportedly spent £192,000 per mile on strategic roads including motorways and major A roads, compared to £6,000 per mile on fixing potholes on local roads. Local roads make up 180,000 miles of the overall network whereas strategic roads make up 4,800 miles.

The LGA expressed that many councils have faced significant challenges with road repairs as a result of rising inflation and shortages of materials. For some councils it is costing up to 22% more to repair a pothole, latest estimates show.

Cllr David Renard, Transport spokesperson for the LGA said:

“All journeys by car begin and end on local roads, which make up the vast majority of our road network. Spending more on improving our motorways whilst neglecting crumbling local roads is counterproductive.

Despite the efforts of councils, which repair a pothole every 19 seconds, our local road repair backlog is rising, with latest estimates showing it would take over £12 billion and nine years to clear.

This coupled with soaring inflation is making it increasingly harder for councils to keep our roads in good condition."

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