HA strives to keep the traffic flowing – and the economy rolling

The Highways Agency plays an important role in land-use planning, influencing local plans and scrutinising planning applications for their impacts on the strategic road network. With planning policy now much more pro-development, the Agency’s planning activities have undergone quite a revamp as Andrew Forster found out when he spoke to HA chief executive Graham Dalton and colleagues Ian Askew and Tim Harbot

Andrew Forster

29 November 2013

Graham Dalton

The Highways Agency worked closely with local authorities to facilitate the i54 strategic employment area beside the M54 on the Staffordshire/Wolverhampton border (Note – JLR: Jaguar Land Rover)

Tim Harbot

Ian Askew

Keeping the traffic flowing on England’s motorways and trunk roads – the strategic road network (SRN) – is the primary way in which the Highways Agency contributes to the Government’s economic growth agenda. But the HA’s planning and development control activities, while less visible, nevertheless have a vital bearing on economic development too. About 60 HA officials are engaged in this work, which includes liaising with local planning authorities on local plans...