Improving the A303 between Amesbury and Berwick Down

Regarding the Amesbury to Berwick Down project, Highways England and the Department should review carefully the planned ‘open to traffic’ date to ensure it is achievable.

The Department and Highways England should consider how it will reflect the following areas, which will be important to demonstrate future value for money of investments along the A303/A358: • clear, measurable objectives for delivering the whole road corridor; • clarity about the most appropriate sequencing of upgrades; • methodologies to analyse and capture the benefits, including those related to heritage benefits. Highways England has started work to develop programme-level benefits; • demonstrate need for investment in subsequent projects along the corridor; and • be transparent about the basis on which it approves projects that contribute to a wider strategic approach. It could include these in a programme-level business case.

Highways England and the Department should ensure that the lessons learned from their engagement with stakeholders on the Amesbury to Berwick Down project are captured and can be applied for future projects across government needing similar levels of stakeholder engagement.

When considering projects that have implications beyond those usually associated with transport projects, such as those that deliver benefits normally delivered by other government departments or those that have ambitions to support economic growth, the Department and Highways England should work with other government departments to ensure that there are means for identifying, delivering and monitoring progress on delivering benefits which are jointly owned.

When announcing the second Road Investment Strategy, the Department should ensure that it has documented its decision-making process for deciding which projects are included.