Strategy is a ‘building block’ but where’s the funding?

Highways authorities must work hard to produce data to ensure more funding for climate resilience, says John Lamb.

The publication of the Climate Adaptation Strategy for Transport marks a further building block in the UK’s move towards greater resilience.

The science is clear and the compelling case to act is impossible to ignore. With over 200 highway authorities, the DfT twin tracked the development of the strategy with some practical support to every UK Highway Director through a series  of Regional workshops.

Led by the UK Roads Leadership Group (UKRLG), a webinar held last year set the clear message and science upon which the recent DfT publication draws. The Met Office is clear; there is an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.

A key and very active part of UKRLG is the National Board for Adaptation, Biodiversity & Climate Resilience – which I currently chair. It includes all four nations’ sector representatives.

As part of our work, Minister for Local Transport Lillian Greenwood underlined a position I have stressed for over a decade: “This is not about a far-off climate average. Rather, current extreme-event risks, include the potential for our own ‘Valencia’ [serious flooding] to occur tomorrow.”

The new strategy seeks to strengthen the case, but it is clear from last winter’s £10m impact across Leicestershire’s flooded roads, plus the major impact to Wales of Storm Bert & Storm Darragh, that compelling evidence is already there.

It is right that the strategy underlines the imperative for rail, motorways, port and airports. The strategy launch does call for ‘Climate Resilience Standards’ by 2030 – a full decade after the DfT’s own launch of the 2021 ‘Lessons learned’. Any new standard would logically take three to five years to bed i.e. 2035… a full 20 after I lost six bridges in Calderdale during Storm Eva (2015).

Our roads are the lifelines that host, carry, or connect the fabric of our community life and economy. The siren imperative to act comes in intense events we already see.

The strategy is a must read and a building block. However, there are currently no new funds for climate resilience for local highways (yes, a multi-year settlement to fix potholes). So, it is for all Highways Authorities to work hard to  give DfT evidence they can take to Ministers and to Treasury.

John Lamb, Chair of National Board for Adaptation, Biodiversity & Climate Resilience