Bosses under fire for rebranding Highways England as National Highways

Highways Agency that became Highways England rebrands… as National Highways! Road bosses are under fire over ‘offensive’ rebrand

• Name change is understood to have been forced on quango’s leadership by DfT
• Inclusion of ‘National’ is said to have provoked anger among officials in Wales 
• Last year it was reported rebrand will cost £7m, but roads agency rejected this
• Last rebranding was six years ago, when name changed from Highways Agency

Road bosses came under fire last night for pressing ahead with an ‘offensive’ rebrand that reportedly cost up to £7million.

Highways England announced its name will change to National Highways with immediate effect. 

It comes just six years after its last multi-million pound rebranding, when its name changed from Highways Agency to Highways England.

The name change, which is understood to have been forced on the quango’s leadership by the Department for Transport, has bemused observers. 

Highways England announced its name will change to National Highways with immediate effect (file photo of the M3 smart motorway near Camberley in Surrey)

The roads agency tweeted on Thursday evening: ‘Today we have become National Highways. With Nick Harris as our new CEO, we will continue to deliver the Government’s £27 billion investment programme for the Strategic Road Network’

The inclusion of the word ‘National’ is also said to have provoked anger among officials in Wales. 

Last year it was reported that the rebrand will cost £7million, although the roads agency rejected this last night and said it would be more like ‘tens of thousands of pounds’. But critics branded it ‘a waste’.

Sally Jacobs, 83, whose husband Derek, also 83, was killed on a stretch of smart motorway on the M1 in 2019, said: ‘I’m appalled. How many brand new cameras to watch the network or extra patrols could you have with the money instead?’ 

Sarah Olney MP, the Liberal Democrats’ transport spokeswoman, added: ‘This rebrand is an astonishing waste of time and money.’

Liberal Democrats’ transport spokeswoman Sarah Olney MP (pictured in December 2019) described the rebrand as ‘an astonishing waste of time and money’

It comes amid a string of controversies to hit the roads agency, including its handling of the roll-out of smart motorways. 

The roads have been partly blamed for at least 18 deaths since 2015. It has also been accused of ‘cultural vandalism’ over the ‘infilling’ of disused railway bridges.

It was also announced that Nick Harris has been appointed the agency’s new chief executive. 

Salary details were not released but his predecessor received £487,000 in a pay package for 2019/20.

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