National Highways has published the fifth report from its Strategic Design Panel, which is tasked with challenging and supporting National Highways to improve the quality of England’s strategic
road network.
The report sets out the Panel’s progress over the past year (April 2021 to July 2022), and recommends National Highways ensures the Panel becomes more effective following the review of its structure and membership, expands independent design review to ensure most schemes are considered and appoints ‘design champions’ to support change and improvement.
Over the next year, membership of the Panel will change following the review. This report pledges that the new design panel will continue to support National Highways to promote and embed the principles of good design in practice so that they become ‘business as usual’. The new panel will understand and make recommendations on highway clutter and support good design competitions that challenge current approaches and inspire innovation. The new panel will consider this work alongside issues emerging from the continued review of schemes.
The Panel includes members from across a range of disciplines, representing designers and stakeholders who are committed to improving the design and quality of the SRN.
(Picture – National Highways)
