Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if her Department will make an estimate of the cost of closing roads during flooding in (a) Bedfordshire and (b) nationally in September.

The Department recognises the profound importance of our country’s road network in moving people, goods, and services around the country. The economic impact of closing roads will vary greatly depending on the roads in question and on the scale and severity of the flooding.

The Government does not routinely make a detailed estimate of the economic impact of particular road closures of this sort, either in Bedfordshire or nationally. These are matters for local highway authorities. Bedford Council and Central Bedfordshire Council, as the relevant local highway authorities for Bedfordshire, are responsible for the management of their respective local networks, including making operational network decisions in the event of severe weather events including flooding.

On a national basis, management of the highway network is the responsibility of over 150 highway authorities in England, who make operational decisions based on the scope and severity of severe weather affecting their area.