"Ambitious" capital programme alongside "draconian" revenue cuts challenges industry, says Quarmby

The highways maintenance industry faces having to gear up for a promised big increase in structural maintenance whilst having to make ever-larger savings in the delivery of revenue-funded routine repairs.

This was the message of David Quarmby, of the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation, to a gathering of industry leaders at the launch of the Highways Term Maintenance Association's new strategy to drive change within the industry.

Quarmby said that if Action for Roads was delivered as promised, it would represent a 25% uplift in the capital programme for highway maintenance, requiring "investment in people and plant". Meanwhile, there were "more cuts to come" post-2015 on the revenue side.

However, industry figures at the meeting said that it was difficult for maintenance firms to invest given a lack of clarity on what the capital programme meant in terms of a work programme, a point John Dowie, director of strategic roads at the DfT, accepted. 

The HTMA strategy commits the industry to seeking to "maximise the returns of highways investment," including by making a better economic case for doing so. Quarmby said that a strong case could be made by businesses and local highway authorities for maintenance to get a share of the £2bn local growth fund.

Geoff Allister, HTMA chief executive, meanwhile, pledged to champion the Cost/Quality/Customer benchmarking exercise and the HTMA project to show the costs associated with key performance indicators, which he said was nearing completion. "If you don't know what costs you are incurring because of how you are choosing to deliver the service, how do you know you are making the best decision?" Allister asked.