Our role in the development of road investment strategies

We have set out our expectations for the evidence and information we expect National Highways to include in its draft Strategic Business Plan for RIS3. 

We undertook a consultation on our proposed approach to fulfilling our role in the development of RIS3.

The consultation report and associated documents were published on 4 May 2022. 

As part of our preparations for RIS3, we commissioned two packages of work to improve our understanding of National Highways’ developing approach to RIS3 and the evidence it will use to support its plans.  

Under the renewals package, we commissioned a review of National Highways’ approach to renewals investment planning for RIS3. We also asked consultants to look specifically at how our monitoring could promote a ‘whole life cost’ approach to maintaining the SRN.

The enhancements package was also split into two tasks. The first considered National Highways approach to estimating the costs of RIS3 enhancement projects. The second considered how risks of delays to projects could be more effectively assessed.

The Department for Transport asked ORR to assist in the development of the interim settlement through the provision of advice on the affordability and deliverability of National Highways’ emerging plans, the performance specification, and the capital specification. 

We reviewed National Highways' (formerly Highways England's) Draft Strategic Business Plan (Draft SBP) in the first half of 2019, and submitted our advice to the Secretary of State on 28 June 2019, in line with the statutory timescales set out in the Draft RIS. Our analysis and advice were based on the information provided in the Draft SBP, which mostly dated to August 2018.

There were changes to the RIS2 package after the Draft SBP came to us. These changes were not covered in our advice but are reflected in the final set of RIS2 documents.

DfT and National Highways responded to our recommendations in the RIS2 package and we provided additional, informal advice on how they were applied.

We commissioned a range of analysis to support our review. The reports used information provided in the Draft SBP, many aspects of which have now changed in the final RIS. 

In preparation for the efficiency review, we commissioned, jointly with National Highways, a set of capability reviews in areas that we expected to be important for delivering efficiency in the second road period.

They provided a view of the level of efficiency the company could achieve from these activities but need to be considered alongside National Highways' wider efficiency plans and other evidence, including benchmarking.

In 2016, we set out how we would approach our role and highlighted a range of issues that we believed should be considered in the development of RIS2.