UK report warns Scotland's roads likely to get worse

The UK’s Institution of Civil Engineers has urged the Scottish government to make long-term funding for roads a higher priority. The ICE’s call comes after publishing its report State of the Nation Scotland 2018: infrastructure investment. In it, the ICE says that the newly formed Scottish Infrastructure Commission must be independent, transparent and be evidence-led in its recommendations to the Scottish government.
November 12, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

The UK’s 5180 Institution of Civil Engineers has urged the Scottish government to make long-term funding for roads a higher priority.

The ICE’s call comes after publishing its report State of the Nation Scotland 2018: infrastructure investment. In it, the ICE says that the newly formed Scottish Infrastructure Commission must be independent, transparent and be evidence-led in its recommendations to the Scottish government.

The report warns Scotland's roads will get worse because of a lack of long-term maintenance funding. ICE, which said Scotland's local and trunk roads do not receive long-term funding settlements, pointed to only 63% of local Scottish roads were in an "acceptable" condition.

One of the report’s recommendations is for the Scottish government to consider how replacements for the vehicle excise duty – called the road tax and paid by car owners – and the fuel duty could be used to fund highway maintenance.

The report also notes that in 2017 the Scottish government said it would set up a national investment bank with around €388.3 million for initial capitalisation between 2019-21.

4068 Transport Scotland is responsible for 3,600km of motorways and trunk roads — about 7% of the total network. Local councils are responsible for 52,400km of A, B, C and unclassified roads.

Finance & Funding

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Euromarket stable until 2020, predicts Euroconstruct
    December 13, 2018
    Analysts predict strong growth in road building up to 2020 as public finances improve. Graham Anderson reports from Helsinki European civil engineering markets – including road building and maintenance - are predicted to grow strongly between now and 2020 thanks to the increasing strength of EU members states’ national economies. The increasingly optimistic forecasts are contained in the latest construction industry research from construction market analyst Euroconstruct, based in the Finnish capital Hel
    Read More
  • Future funding crisis looms?
    August 13, 2012
    From the UK’s Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) comes data revealing a future funding crisis many governments will face. The IFS study, commissioned by the RAC Foundation, shows that income from motoring taxation will fall as traffic volumes increase. The problem is that increasing fuel efficiency of new generation vehicles, plus the introduction of electric cars, will deliver smaller and smaller returns on fuel taxation. Although fuel is taxed heavily in the UK, and right across Europe, projections show t
    Read More
  • CECE 2018 conference Rome: the sector powers up for digitisation
    March 20, 2019
    Getting the human-machine interface for equipment automation right is a lot trickier than expected. David Arminas reports from the CECE conference in Rome For many contractors, digitisation is key for improving on-site operational efficiency. But it may be time to take stock of progress and examine what does and doesn’t work. That is not to say that the anchors should be thrown out to halt development. Far from it. In the past eight months, the CECE - Committee for European Construction Equipment – led
    Read More
  • Colombia’s ANI agency is driving forward the 4G PPP programme
    April 4, 2016
    Andrade Moreno is a man on a mission. The head of Colombia's infrastructure agency ANI explains how the organisation is giving foreign companies increasing confidence to invest time and money in the country. David Arminas reports Change, especially when it touches the highest levels of South American business and politics, can bring with it personal danger. Luis Fernando Andrade Moreno, president of Colombia's National Infrastructure Agency - ANI - was aware of this when he took on the role in 2011. B
    Read More

Highlighted Content