§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what guidelines he issued and responsibilities he has for ensuring that roadway drainage systems and ditches are maintained, particularly in relation to rural roads in England, Wales and Scotland. [156074]
§ Mr. Hill [holding answer 29 March 2001]Guidance on the maintenance of drainage systems and ditches on all local authority roads in England is contained in the local authorities' Code of Good Practice for Highway Maintenance. The responsibility for maintenance of these roads rests with the local highway authorities.
The Secretary of State is directly responsible for trunk roads and this responsibility is exercised through the Highways Agency. Appropriate guidance has been issued to the Highways Agency's contractors.
824W
£million Nature of funding 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 Revenue Support Grant1 63.8 73.0 75.5 72.5 78.7 Income from National Non-Domestic Rates1 63.4 66.2 71.9 81.5 79.3 Housing Investment Programme 4.9 4.6 4.8 7.2 10.5 Housing Revenue Account Subsidy — — 7.7 — — Capital Receipts Initiative 0.6 1.9 1.9 — — Cash Incentive Scheme 0.2 — — — — Transport Supplementary Grant 0.7 0.5 0.6 — — It is not possible to determine how much of this money has been spent on Luton, South. It is for the local authority to decide where within its boundary these resources are applied.
The transport allocations shown are for the Luton/Dunstable conurbation, which includes part of South Bedfordshire district. Similarly, the Single Regeneration Budget partnership operates across the conurbation—the figures given are an estimate of the amount going into Luton.
Road maintenance in Wales and Scotland is the responsibility of the devolved administrations.