ORR business plan prioritises protecting road users
Road users across Britain will continue to see positive impacts from the Office of Rail and Road’s (ORR) planned work as set out in its newly published Business Plan for 2026–27. As National Highways enters its third road investment strategy, where it will have £27bn in funding, ORR will hold the company to account to deliver […]
Feras Alshaker named Office of Rail and Road’s Interim Chief Executive
After the announcement of the departure of its current Chief Executive, John Larkinson, later this month, Feras Alshaker, currently Director of Planning and Performance, has been appointed as Interim Chief Executive of the Office of Rail and Road with effect from Monday 27 April. In his current role, Feras has senior responsibility for Britain’s rail […]
Safety improvements plateau on England’s Strategic Road Network
The latest available data shows that recent improvements in road user safety on England’s strategic road network levelled out in 2024, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has revealed. ORR’s fourth annual assessment of safety on the strategic road network shows National Highways is set to miss its safety target, set by government in […]
ORR: National Highways must lock in the good progress of the last decade to deliver next Road Period
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) says that National Highways has delivered significant improvements for road users in the second road period (RP2 2020-2025), but the agency must ‘learn lessons from missed commitments’ in order to deliver better performance in the next Road Period. According to ORR’s assessment of National Highways’ performance and delivery, […]
ORR: England’s strategic road network faces ‘significant challenges and uncertainty’
The benefits to road users from the second road investment strategy (RIS2, running from 2020-2025) for England’s strategic road network risk not being delivered in full, regulator the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has warned. In its annual assessment of National Highways’ performance for the 12 months from April 2023, ORR will say that […]
ORR to undertake an investigation of National Highways’ performance
The Office of Rail and Road has opened an investigation into the performance of National Highways. The ORR says that, since it was created, National Highways has generally achieved its aims and delivered well for road users, and during this time the two bodies have worked together to successfully resolve individual issues before they have […]
ORR “holds National Highways to account” to meet corporate carbon emissions target
The Office of Rail and Road has issued a blog post regarding National Highways’ commitments to reduce its corporate carbon emissions. Haydn Gill, Senior analyst, Highways writes that ORR holds National Highways to account to meet its target of a 67% reduction in corporate carbon emissions by 2025 compared to 2017-18 levels. Corporate carbon emissions […]
ORR updates on National Highways’ safety KPI
Latest figures from the Department for Transport show that 1,944 people were killed or seriously injured on the Strategic Road Network in 2022. This is 38% lower than the 2005-2009 average baseline but means that National Highways must deliver a further improvement of 12 percentage points (376 KSIs) to achieve its target of a 50% […]
ORR report shows England’s best and worst regions for motorway and A-road surface condition
A new report from the Office of Rail and Road shows that the condition of road surfaces in National Highways’ East region – covering Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Essex and Bedfordshire, is consistently lower than in the rest of England. The South West region, covering Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset, and Wiltshire, consistently performs the best. ORR’s Benchmarking Road Surface […]
Declan Collier reappointed ORR Chair
The Transport Secretary Mark Harper has today reappointed Declan Collier as the Chair of the Office of Rail and Road for a further five-year term. The Department for Transport says that in his second term as Chair, Mr Collier “will continue to drive forward the important work of the ORR, holding Network Rail and National […]