Environmental Sustainability Strategy

Good road design principles

We published 'The road to good design’, our first design vision, in 2018. It sets out the principles that will help us achieve a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable network.

In 2022, we followed this with ‘People, places and processes: A guide to good design at National Highways’.

This guidance focuses on place to ensure restrained, environmentally sustainable design that fits its surroundings.

It provides the basis for the objective review of road schemes and acknowledges that environment enhancing road investment demands:

• close engagement with communities
• careful assessment of context
• robust decision-making
• collaborative working

Strategic Design Panel

We established our independent Strategic Design Panel to improve the quality of our roads.

The panel helps us ensure all our road projects demonstrate design excellence in:

• landscape
• engineering
• the built environment

Innovative green mapping project set to boost roadside biodiversity

Working with Manchester Metropolitan University, we've mapped habitat types across our network. This will help us understand the state of biodiversity on our land.

The innovative research uses more than 20 different sets of data, for our own land and 1km either side.

While we've had detailed environmental maps of many individual locations, we've not had the full picture before. This new approach maps all of England’s strategic road network for the first time.

Nature recovery

We've joined The Wildlife Trusts to launch a new £6 million Network for Nature programme.

The programme will improve habitats across England that have been affected or severed by road building in the past. It will help create, restore and reconnect places for wildflowers, trees and wildlife.

This will benefit both people and nature.

Key Performance Indicators

We have set ourselves ambitious targets for biodiversity, including no net loss by 2025.

Nature-based flood management pilot

In 2021, we joined with the Don Catchment and Mersey Rivers Trusts to fund to 13 projects for natural flood management on the catchments of:

• Little Don
• River Etherow
• River Irwell

This pilot (worth more than £420,000) helped us:

• develop principles for working with farmers and landowners to reduce flood risk on vulnerable sections of our road network
• explore natural solutions to flooding to regulate surface water runoff, including storage ponds or planting woodland and hedgerows

Establishing working practices with landowners

We've created a fund to help farmers and landowners create natural flood management measures. This will help reduce flood risk to our network.

All landowners can probably play a part. Irrespective of location within the catchment, they can contribute to flood reduction in downstream areas.

Impact on wider landscape

Our standards for environmental assessment require us to consider how new roads will affect the wider landscape and neighbouring land.

Designated funds

We're delivering targeted landscape scale improvement projects through our designated funds programme.

For example, on the A30 in Cornwall we're funding projects to improve:

• the quality of the landscape and habitats next to our network
• the connections between these habitats

Working with National Parks England

Our memorandum of understanding with National Parks England helps us collaborate on improvements where our responsibilities overlap.

Strategic urban study

We're working with communities to develop ways of managing our roads in harmony with the unique nature of the urban environment.

Conserving and enhancing heritage assets

We have a programme of interventions to conserve and enhance heritage assets on land next to our network.

Performance indicators

We have cultural heritage performance indicators in place and report on the condition of our heritage assets.

Asset management plans

We keep up-to-date management plans for the important cultural and historical assets we own on our network.

Comprehensive air quality monitoring across the network

We’ve established a comprehensive network of continuous monitoring stations – our National Air Quality Monitoring Network.

Noise Insulation project

We've implemented a central programme of work, delivering noise insulation to households most affected by noise on our network.

Microplastics pollutions research

We have a rolling programme of projects to improve the water environment across our network.

We're also conducting research into microplastics pollution in run off,  to inform our future policy and next steps.

Performance indicators

We've set targets for noise, air quality and water quality and programmes of work to support their delivery. We annually report progress against our targets.

Carbon Management System

We have developed a Carbon Management System, accredited to PAS2080:2016 'Carbon Management in Infrastructure'.

We are the world’s first road organisation to achieve this global carbon management standard.

We will embed the Carbon Management System in our business and implement a continuous improvement plan in 2023.

Carbon Opportunities Register

We've compiled a register of low and zero-carbon products, technologies and opportunities for use instead of traditional construction and maintenance methods.

We are already using this information to identify suitable options for piloting in our work. We will refresh it regularly.

Our Net Zero Highways Plan

Through our Net Zero Highways Plan, we're addressing our energy use in a number of ways. For example:

• all of our plant used on site and in site cabins will be zero carbon by 2030
• we're greening our depots, including upgrading heating and lighting systems
• we're planning to micro-generate power on our land to help meet our energy needs

Resource exchange mechanism

We've researched the viability of establishing a national resource exchange mechanism (REM).

This would make it easier to trade surplus materials, products, components and assets between UK infrastructure projects.

Forum for Circular Infrastructure

We are active members of The Forum for Circular Infrastructure.

The forum encourages widespread re-use of materials in construction. Re-use can deliver a range of environmental, cost-saving and social benefits.

Electric vehicles

Cleaner quieter vehicles are part of our our net zero ambitions. We're already changing our own vehicles to electric with targets of:

• 100% electric non-traffic officer vehicles by 2027
• 100% electric traffic officer vehicles by 2030

We continue to support the Government in the move towards low emission HGVs.

We're launching an electric towns and cities initiative, supporting a shift to low emission vans through grants to businesses.

Research partnering

We have been key partners in:

• the first real-world operational UK trials of HGV platooning in 2022. Platooning means using technology to allow a lead driver to safely control a number of following HGVs.
• the DfT led Innovate UK zero emission road freight trials. This included a feasibility study of an Electric Road System demonstrator (where a road provides power to electric vehicles).

Supporting Project Rapid

We are helping the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles deliver Project Rapid, including:

• investment in energy storage solutions
• a £950m Rapid Charging Fund to provide additional capacity for electric vehicle charging across our network.

Sustainable travel choices

We've committed to several actions that promote sustainable travel choices, including:

• developing a programme to improve public transport operations on our network
• promoting active travel
• making the network more accessible to walkers, cyclists and horse riders
• implementing a comprehensive plan in the third road period