Latest news with #DepartmentForTransport
BBC News
3 days ago
- Automotive
- BBC News
Devon County Council to trial changes to filling in potholes
A council has agreed to trial changes to the way it fixes potholes in parts of County Council backed proposals to trial areas where all potholes would be filled, rather than just dealing with safety defects, as part of an approved £83m road maintenance Thomas, the county council's cabinet member for highways, said the state of the roads was not what the council wanted but it was unable to tackle all the issues as it was "grossly under resourced by central government".A Department for Transport spokesperson said: "We are determined to end the pothole plague, which is why Devon County Council is receiving over £83m this year to fix its roads." It said: "This is just the start - the government will also be investing a further £24bn to upgrade motorways and local roads across the country, delivering lasting infrastructure Britain can rely on."Thomas said the state of the roads was not being tackled as "quickly as we would like"."We have a repair backlog of around £390m, and to keep us in a steady state it costs around £102m a year," he said. The county council said exact details were still to be agreed but a pilot "repair blitz" would be used to establish budget implications of changing maintenance agreed to examine the costs of accelerating the remarking of white lines across the said about £56m of this year's highway maintenance capital budget would be invested in road maintenance and surface treatments, and the rest would be allocated to bridges and structures, streetlighting, traffic signals, public rights of way and other highways assets.
Times
3 days ago
- Times
What happened to the homes bought by HS2?
S ome 50 family homes sit on the wooded slopes of Whitmore Heath in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, each in its own generous plot, individually designed in a dazzling array of architectural styles, from faux Arts and Crafts to stark contemporary. Many of the residents are in their seventies, eighties and nineties, having lived on Whitmore Heath for decades, raising their families here. Until HS2 came along and turned their world upside down. In 2011 the West Midlands to Crewe leg of the high-speed railway, or Phase 2a, was announced and HS2 started buying homes in the area, which locals call 'millionaires' row'. The Department for Transport now owns more than half of the homes here. This is despite the fact that Phase 2 of the project was cancelled by Rishi Sunak in 2023.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Shrewsbury relief road work put on hold
All work on a proposed bypass has been paused to allow talks to take place with the Department for Transport (DfT) about its a change in leadership at Shropshire Council, the authority has been looking to scrap Shrewsbury's North West Relief Road, and a meeting was held with the DfT on council was told there would be no more funding for the project and that work would have to be stopped before further discussions could take council, which is now run by the Liberal Democrats, has said it would like to avoid paying back the money it has already received from the government. The scheme was originally put forward by the previous Conservative administration, with the aim of reducing congestion and pollution in the town was opposed by environmental groups and opposition parties because of the costs involved and the possible environmental impact of the work, with both suggesting the money would be better spent on other schemes to reduce cost of constructing the road was originally estimated at £ years later, the estimated cost stands at £215m, due to planning delays, significant increases in global construction costs, and concerns with the scheme's governance the meeting on Monday, DfT officers confirmed that they would not award any more money than had been originally allocated to the project. Furthermore, the Local Transport Fund of £136.4m, originally mooted by the previous administration to fund the scheme, has been replaced with a Local Transport Grant totalling only £ DfT said if work on the scheme was stopped, formal discussions could take place with Roads Minister Lilian Greenwood MP, the DfT and other parts of central government about the £39m it has already spent on the leader Heather Kidd said it was "made very clear that no more funding would be allocated to the scheme".With the possibility that costs could rise still further, she said: ""Borrowing that level of money is not a serious option given our financial position and the implications it would have for the rest of our budget and services."She said this created a £176m funding gap for the relief road and made it "simply unaffordable", so the council had no choice but to cancel that decision would still have to be made by full council. This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations. Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Mobile signal blackspots to be eliminated on many of the UK's major train routes
Train journeys can be frustrating at the best of times - with passengers having to put up with delays, noisy commuters or a lack of available seats. However, train users could soon have one less thing to worry about as mobile signal blackspots - where the internet cuts out and pauses your favourite TV show or game - are set to be eliminated on many of the UK's major train routes by 2028. The move, called Project Reach, comes after the Department for Transport (Dft) signed a deal with Network rail and telecoms companies Neos Networks and Freshwave. The installation of infrastructure is expected to begin next year and will initially see Neos Networks install 621 miles of ultra-fast fibre optic cable along parts of the East Coast Main Line, West Coast Main Line, Great Western Main Line and Chiltern Main Line. There is an ambition to expand the cabling beyond 3,107 miles in the "near future", the DfT said. Freshwave will tackle blackspots in 57 tunnels - covering nearly 31 miles - including the Chipping Sodbury tunnel near Bristol and the Gasworks and Copenhagen tunnels outside King's Cross. As part of the deal, mobile network operators will also invest in new 4G and 5G infrastructure at these 12 railway stations: Birmingham New Street, Bristol Temple Meads, Edinburgh Waverley, Euston, Glasgow Central, King's Cross, Leeds, Liverpool Lime Street, Liverpool Street, Manchester Piccadilly, Paddington and Waterloo. Read more from Sky News The DfT said the agreement "brings together public and private sector investment and infrastructure", and is expected to save taxpayers "around £300m". Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: "This is a game-changer for passengers up and down the country, and will revolutionise journeys from Paddington to Penzance and Edinburgh to Euston. "By boosting connectivity and tackling signal blackspots, we are also ensuring a more reliable and efficient service. "This means better journeys for passengers while supporting our broader plan for change goals of economic growth and digital innovation."
BBC News
4 days ago
- Automotive
- BBC News
Most cars speed on free flowing 20 mph roads
Three-quarters of car drivers speed on free-flowing 20mph roads in England, new Department for Transport (DfT) figures data for 2024, was collected in "free-flowing" conditions in England: roads with no speed cameras, bends, junctions, or traffic calming average speed on these roads was 24mph but about 10% of cars exceeded figures also show that a record number of people – 1.84 million – attended a speed awareness course across the UK last Department for Transport has been approached for comment. The rollout of 20mph zones in towns and cities across Britain could be a factor in the rising number of speed awareness courses says Rod Dennis, road safety spokesperson for the RAC. Anne Page, 71, attended a "very good" speed awareness course after being caught doing 27 on a 20 mph section of road in London earlier this favours limits in areas where traffic, bikes and pedestrians mix, but says that signage is "patchy, gradual and inconsistent" and stressed the need for a more "high-profile campaign" to alert drivers when limits change. Many drivers disagree with the growing number of lower speed limits. Half who told the RAC that they sped on 20mph roads said they did so because the limit was "inappropriate". AJ, 62, from West Drayton, London, thinks it's "exceptionally hard to sustain 20 mph over a long distance".He was clocked doing 24 in a 20mph stretch of an A road in campaigners say 20mph limits should be rolled out across all UK urban areas while other groups campaign to limit them and improve driver restrictions may dilute the impact of speed limits, says Luke Bosdet of the added that it may be more effective to target their use near schools, hospitals, and pedestrian areas "where drivers can see the reasons for them being there".Drivers may not keep to the limit in 20mph zones but the average speeds are slower in these areas compared with 30mph isn't always enough to make people feel Torquay, Marilyn and Norman Roberts have spray-painted the word "slow" on the road to deter speeding drivers. "Cars go speeding up and down the road with no regard for the speed limit," Mr Roberts said."If we wave our hands at cars and ask them to drive slower, we get all sorts of abuse." Additional reporting Robert Cuffe, David Verry and Rob England.
