The Office of Rail & Road (ORR), in its annual assessment of National Highways, reports that National Highways did not meet its 2022 delivery plan goals for enhancements – missing one of its nine start of work (SOW) commitments and three of its 12 open for traffic (OFT) commitments. So far in the 2020-25 investment period, seven schemes (two for SOW and five for OFT) have missed their commitments.
ORR said that the company had delivered well against its financial and performance targets for 2022-23, but it urged "continued focus on efficiency and managing inflationary pressures on its enhancements in the coming year".
ORR reports that National Highways achieved the expected £776m of efficiency savings and remains on course to meet its target of £2.1bn of efficiency during the second investment strategy period (RIS2), which runs from April 2020 to March 2025,. However, it must continue to manage growing uncertainty in the next two years, ORR said.
National Highways' enhancements projects have continued to experience delays and cost increases in the last fiscal year, largely due to inflation, and legal challenges to its projects. The company thus faces ongoing risks to the delivery of its enhancements for the remainder of RP2.
The expected cost of enhancements (schemes and other costs) for RP2 was £23.6bn, but this has since increased by 21%. The Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) scheme had the largest forecast cost increase, of £2.3bn (39%) to £8.3bn. The increase was partly driven by the impact of inflation, additional land requirements, development consent order (DCO) related costs and other operating costs.
In the year to 31st March 2023, National Highways spent £1,663m on enhancements. This was £286m (15%) less than planned. This included £240m arising from delays to schemes in achieving their development consent orders. The underspend was offset by some overspend onspecific schemes. Costain’s A1 Birtley to Coal House overspent by £49m due to costs on the Allerdene Bridge and increases in the cost of steel. The A30 Chiverton to Carland Cross – also Costain – overspent by £47m due to increases in construction costs and work on drainage, earthworks and pavement being brought forward into the reporting year.
ORR director Feras Alshaker said: "National Highways has delivered well for road users and continued to achieve efficiencies in line with its plan. However, planning delays and high inflation are creating pressure on some of National Highways’ biggest projects. It must adapt and implement robust mitigations to address these pressures. We will continue to carefully scrutinise the work the company is undertaking to mitigate risks to delivery while maintaining value for taxpayers.”
The full report can be found at www.orr.gov.uk/monitoring-and-regulation/roads-monitoring/annual-assessment-national-highways/2023
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