Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 21 July 2016 (HL1206), what estimate they have made of the percentage of road signs on the highways network that are being obscured by overgrown foliage.
Highways England invests significant funds in maintaining road signs and their contracts require that vegetation is cut back as necessary.
The Department for Transport also encourages highway authorities to consider the advice as set out in the UK Road Liaison Group’s code of practice, ‘Well Maintained Highways’. This advises authorities to trim back trees and foliage to ensure traffic signs are kept legible.
No central assessment of road signs that are being obscured by overgrown foliage, operated either by local highways authorities or by Highways England, has been made.