Focusing Attention On The Road

At a certain time each year the subject of potholed roads exercises the minds of those on news desks around the country. Headlines screaming horror about the nation’s crumbling roads’ do not come about by accident. They are prompted as a result of the communications programme run by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA). Now starting its seventh year, the programme is set to broaden its reach through development of its activities.

The AIA is the umbrella under which the two key trade associations in the asphalt industry co-operate to promote the benefits of asphalt roads. Its programme is driven by a committee of experts in various disciplines from the associations’ member companies who identify and advise on the key issues affecting the industry and its customers.

Primarily known for its ALARM (Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance) Survey, which reports on highway maintenance funding and the state of the roads, the AIA’s campaign brings to public attention the main factors that impact on this essential public service. Given that the average driver pays scant attention to what they are driving on, this poses something of a challenge. A survey conducted by the RAC revealed that although 60% of motorists have a favourite road, a mere 4% mentioned the road surface itself.

The AIA exists not only to communicate the benefits of asphalt roads, but to ensure that the subject of highways maintenance receives its fair share of attention against a backdrop of continuing highly vocal debate about the building of new roads, and the probability of the introduction of national road pricing.

This year will see the publication of the 12th ALARM Survey (previously conducted by the Refined Bitumen Association (RBA) before the formation of the AIA in 2000). Over the years the survey has built a unique set of data directly from local authority highways departments, providing an acknowledged benchmark that has proven informative to central government, local government and industry alike.

Alarming statistics

The harsh headline figure in the 2006 survey was the huge estimated shortfall of over £1.6 billion in the road structural maintenance budget across England, which had almost doubled over the previous year. The 2006 ALARM Survey clearly showed that the need for long-term investment in local authority roads is, once again, being overlooked in favour of more vote-winning services. This message was made public through regional and national newspapers, radio and television coverage and continues to inform the AIA’s communication with MPs and government departments.

In addition to its ability to attract media attention, the ALARM Survey forms an integral part of the Alliance’s communications programme.

Making roads work

In 2004, motivated by feedback from local authorities that highways maintenance funds were being diverted at local level towards other public service departments, such as health and social security, the AIA embarked on a programme of regional forums. Their objective was to raise awareness of the need for increased highway maintenance funding by bringing together those influencing budget decisions at national, regional and local levels.

By providing a platform for these various influencers, including road users and residential and commercial communities, to present their views and debate their different perspectives, the ‘Making Roads Work’ forums are making their mark. Hosted by an authority representing its particular region and involving the Department for Transport and environment directors at local authority level, the forums are occasionally confrontational but always informative.

Nearly half of the delegates attending the most recent events, held last autumn in the North-West and East Midlands regions, were local councillors, an indication, perhaps, that highway maintenance might yet shed its Cinderella status. The high level of media interest in these events seemed to reinforce this view, particularly in the East Midlands where BBC TV covered the event on news bulletins throughout the day from breakfast through to the evening.

The key messages from all forums were consistent. While roads are an authority’s largest asset, they attract the lowest spend. The increasing replacement of planned preventative programmes by reactive maintenance is becoming a serious problem, with one authority reporting this type of work absorbing 95% of its budget.

Further regional forums in England are planned, as well as the second national event in Wales later this year.

The caring public

The media interest in the ‘Making Roads Work’ forums and the ALARM Survey clearly highlights the public’s capacity to appreciate the issues surrounding road maintenance and allows the AIA to expose the key messages both directly to councillors and to a wider public playing field.

Feedback to websites and TV and radio programmes from members of the public complaining about the state of their roads indicates that improved support of the highways maintenance service is a subject closer to voters’ hearts than central government has previously acknowledged.

The general public is also having an influence in other ways, for instance environmental concerns, such as the encroachment of noise, including that from traffic, are becoming major issues. The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has produced maps for London and Birmingham identifying factors contributing to urban noise, including road noise. Meanwhile, the AIA’s campaign has aimed to achieve awareness of the noise-reducing properties of some asphalts, which has led to road surfaces with these benefits becoming a priority for local communities.

Spreading the word

The Alliance continues to produce its Asphalt Now newsletter as a means of helping to inform asphalt specifiers, advisers and policy-makers about industry trends and latest products and techniques. During 2007 it is likely that greater use of the Internet will be made to improve the way in which this is distributed.

Other plans are afoot to broaden the audience for the AIA’s messages by developing more web-accessible tools that interlink with the Alliance’s website and other communications activities.

These developments do not ignore the importance of the more traditional medium: face-to-face communication. In addition to consultations and meetings with representatives of customer organizations, policymakers and Parliamentarians, the AIA will continue to encourage industry involvement in events and conferences that help to spread the word to its particular public. Not least of these is the industry’s own conference, instigated some decades ago by the Quarry Products Association, as it is now known, and now held under the AIA banner. Attended by suppliers and specifiers, this is as much a networking as an informative event, which this year carries an environmental theme.

These are just some of the various activities the AIA undertakes to ensure that the benefits of asphalt and of timely road maintenance remain firmly in the minds of those responsible for ensuring the upkeep of the nation’s highway network.

For further information on the AIA’s activities contact the AIA press office on tel: (020) 7730 1100; or email: [email protected]