Highways UK | Strategic alliance at the heart of England’s transport infrastructure

Our transport infrastructure has to cope with many pressures – the need to cater for longer-distance movements whilst respecting local priorities and sensitivities; the need to manage the impact of existing movement whilst also enabling growth to take place; the need to maintain what we have whilst also investing in the capacity required to support growth.

Evolving from an initiative in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire, and recently expanded to include Milton Keynes, Bedford Borough, Central Bedfordshire and Luton, England’s Economic Heartland Strategic Alliance is a new body that has at its core the need for strategic, sub-national planning.

In our latest guest blog, the Alliance’s programme director Martin Tugwell sets out a new model for leadership on strategic infrastructure through a new sub-national partnership that comprises local partners, Government, its agencies, infrastructure owners and transport service providers.

“Our purpose is simple,” says Martin, “to provide the strategic leadership that enables our networks to be planned and developed as a transport system.”

Furthermore, he argues, working collaboratively we can ensure that the transport system is greater than the sum of the individual networks, that we share knowledge and experience to simplify processes, and that we draw on the experience of the private sector to complement that of the public sector.

You can read Martin’s full blog here.

Martin Tugwell is programme director for England’s Economic Heartland Strategic Alliance. He is speaking at Highways UK on 25 November in the conference module Towards a network that supports national, regional and local economies – and rebalances growth across the nation.

Highways UK takes place at ExCeL in London on 25/26 November. The core event, comprising a major exhibition, keynotes and industry briefings is free, with an optional paid-for high level conference and supper. Find out what is on offer at www.highways-uk.com