WIREDGOV

The Highways Agency is highlighting the important role that sustainable development plays in helping to move society towards a low carbon future as their Sustainable Development Plan is published yesterday.

The Agency, which is responsible for motorways and other strategic roads in England, is working to balance its responsibility to develop and operate the strategic road network effectively, with its responsibilities to protect the environment and support economic growth.

Dean Kerwick-Chrisp, Head of Sustainability, Equality and Diversity at the Highways Agency, said:

"Operating and improving our strategic road network more effectively lies at the heart of greater sustainability. We recognise we have a key role to play in supporting economic recovery as these roads carry a third of all vehicle traffic and two thirds of all freight journeys in England and they are an integral part of our national way of life, providing links for communities and businesses and contributing to national wellbeing.

"It is important that we understand and limit the impacts that these roads can have on communities and the environment. Our Sustainable Development Plan sets out how we want to work together with our suppliers and others to ensure the impact of the roads we are responsible for is kept as low as possible while we deliver sustainable economic growth, improve quality of life for communities and protect our natural environment now and for future generations."

The Agency's Sustainable Development Plan seeks to make sustainable development central to the way the Agency and its partners operate. For example, an innovative waste and materials procurement strategy developed on the M25 widening scheme between junctions 16 and 23 resulted in over £15 million pounds being saved by recycling over 70% of waste produced on site and finding new uses for imported waste materials.

The Agency has a proven track record in delivering solutions to support a sustainable future, such as our energy efficiency strategy which has seen lights switched off or removed along stretches of motorway where, according to standards revised in 2007, they are no longer required and where removal or switching-off does not affect safety. On the lengths of motorway where midnight to 5am switch-off has been implemented the Agency has reduced its annual electricity consumption by approximately 3,300,000 kwh, equivalent to annual carbon dioxide equivalent savings of around 1800 tonnes CO2e.

The sustainable development plan is available on the Highways Agency website at http://www.highways.gov.uk/sustainability

Notes to Editors

Issued by the Highways Agency National Press Office. For further information please contact Stuart Thompson on 0207 1534849. Media enquiries out of hours should be made to the Highways Agency National Press Office (24hrs) on 020 7081 7443.

1. The Highways Agency is an executive agency of the Department for Transport. We manage, maintain and improve England's motorways and other strategic roads on behalf of the Secretary of State.

2. For the Highways Agency's advice to road users this winter, "Make time for winter", please visit www.highways.gov.uk/winter

3. Real-time traffic information for England's motorways and other strategic roads is available:

- From the web at www.highways.gov.uk/traffic or www.highways.gov.uk/mobile if using a phone or mobile device.
- By phone from the Highways Agency Information Line on 0300 123 5000 at any time. (Calls to 0300 numbers will cost no more than 5p per minute from a standard BT residential landline. Call charges from other landlines and mobile networks may vary, but will be no more than a standard geographic call and will be included in all inclusive minutes and discount schemes). Make sure it's safe and legal before you call. Before using any mobile, find a safe place to park. Never stop on the hard shoulder of a motorway except in an emergency.
- On an iPhone app which will automatically select the region you are in. Free to download from the iTunes store or search for Highways Agency on your device.
- From Twitter - there are eight regional feeds with live traffic information. For the full index visit www.highways.gov.uk/twitter.

4. Receive our national and regional press releases by RSS and get the latest headlines straight to your desktop the moment we publish them to our website. Choose to receive a national press feed or one of our regionalised feeds - go to www.highways.gov.uk/rssnews for more information.