Star comment: Is it time to get us out of the car?

Asking the private sector to fully fund Britain’s road network would be a non-starter, as no private enterprise in its corporate right mind would want to take on such an expensive and therefore unprofitable burden.

It is a conundrum for the future and something you will get plenty of time to ponder as you sit in the ever-lengthening jams on our motorways and major roads which are caused by the ever-increasing volumes of traffic. The roads are so congested that it only takes something minor to create a big build-up.

And if you are talking about road repairs, then you are looking at very big queues as a consequence.

Look to the future, and it is only going to get worse unless somebody comes up with a bright idea, a middle way perhaps between publicly and privately-financed roads which ensures that they enjoy the maximum possible overall investment.

Currently British motorists pay some of the highest taxes but get some of the worst roads in return.

The M6 Toll Road, which could have been a pin-up for the benefits of private investment, is anything but. It is expensive and under-used and, as a consequence, has failed in its aim of clearing the M6 through the West Midlands of congestion.

In the Shropshire Star today, the president of the AA, Edmund King, puts forward some of his ideas which explore different, imaginative, and innovative methods of funding.

One of his ideas which has generated headlines is that the naming rights of major roads could be sold, so you could have a motorway named after, say, a particular company or sports team.

Labour’s leaked draft manifesto, unsurprisingly, offers the state solution, with a huge programme of infrastructure investment. There will be many cheers to that, but the cheers will not be quite as loud when taxpayers discover who is going to have to pay for it.

There is another way of tackling the problem of Britain’s lousy and congested roads. It is to encourage people not to use them, and instead to walk, cycle, catch the train or, if they do have to use the roads, to go by bus.

Alternatively, car drivers could pay depending on how far they drive, with pay-by-the-mile systems.

Unless more can be done to encourage an influx of private cash into Britain’s roads, we shall end up with the roads network we are prepared to pay for - and that means a substandard and chronically underfunded network.