Assembly likely to get powers on region's roads

The Government is thought to be on the verge of agreeing to hand over the running of the region's roads to the assembly by transferring powers from the Highways Authority.

The move would leave the assembly responsible for the upkeep of the region's network of trunk roads, give it the power to order the upgrade of roads such as the A1 and those stretches of the A66 that fall inside the North-East, and give it control of an annual roads budget worth tens of millions of pounds a year.

It is understood that the Government came within a whisker of agreeing to transfer the Highways Agency's functions in the summer, but ran out of Parliamentary time ahead of the publication of the draft Regional Assemblies' Bill in July.

It now looks likely that the new powers will be included in the full Bill, which will be published later this year if November 4's referendum delivers a Yes result.

During a visit to Durham City yesterday, the Liberal Democrats' regional affairs spokesman Ed Davey MP, who has been closely involved in the negotiations over the role of the proposed assembly, indicated that even if the new powers are not included in the Government Bill, his party would use the House of Lords to try to force through an amendment transferring the powers.

"We are arguing that the Highways Agency should be given over to the assembly," he said.

"The Secretary of State for Transport appears to be responding to the view that a stronger say on transport will assist the assembly.

"I would be very surprised if those powers are not in the Bill and I think we can use our position in the Lords to ensure there are more powers."

The news was last night welcomed by Professor John Tomaney, chairman of Yes 4 The North East, who said: "If the LibDems stick to this commitment, and we have no reason to believe they won't, then clearly a Yes vote will produce the powers we need to tackle the region's major transport problems."