Highways (Financing) Bill
A Bill to Make provision for licences authorising the charging of tolls in return for securing works on trunk roads in England; about the functions of holders of licences; about enforcement; for a special administration regime for holders of licences; about the collection and enforcement of tolls charged under other Acts; and for connected purposes.
- Introduced by
- Heidi Alexander · Labour · Swindon South
- Originating house
- Commons
- Introduced
- 10 September 2026
- Last updated
- 30 October 2026
What this bill does
Currently at Committee stage in the Commons.
Lets private firms charge tolls to build and run some English trunk roads.
This Bill creates a new licensing system for certain trunk roads in England, allowing a licence holder to build, improve, maintain and operate a road in return for charging tolls. It gives the Office of Rail and Road a major oversight role, sets rules for toll collection and enforcement, and creates a special insolvency regime so a licensed road can keep running if the operator fails. It also updates how tolls are enforced on some other existing tolled roads, bridges and tunnels, including support for barrierless charging.
- Allow the Secretary of State or, after an initial period, the Office of Rail and Road to grant, modify, transfer and revoke licences for certain trunk roads in England.
- Let licence holders charge tolls in return for construction, improvement, maintenance, operation and related works on those roads.
- Require licences to include tolling rules and other conditions, including financial resilience and operational requirements, with standard conditions set centrally.
- Give licence holders highway authority and traffic authority functions for the specified road, while limiting some powers and preserving some others through regulations.
- Set up detailed rules for toll schemes, toll payment, enforcement, penalties, vehicle examination, immobilisation and offences.
- Give the Office of Rail and Road monitoring, information-gathering, enforcement, penalty and reporting powers, including notices, orders and appeals.
- Create a special administration regime so a licensed road can keep operating if the licence holder becomes insolvent.
- Allow the Secretary of State to provide financial assistance and let the Office of Rail and Road recover its costs through a levy on toll-licence holders.
- Modernise collection and enforcement for tolls under existing laws on certain bridges, tunnels and roads in England, including barrierless charging.
- Allow the Secretary of State to direct that a proposed licensed highway becomes a trunk road.
The stage line is the same Parliament bill record as the heading. The summary is AI-generated and not independently reviewed. Report an error.
Progress
- 1st reading · Commons
- 2nd reading · Commons
- Committee stage · Commons