The government must prioritise spending on road infrastructure projects that connect communities and reduce congestion after announcing ambitious plans to build 1.5m new homes, the RHA said.
Last year the government said it was “turbocharging” growth with new targets for councils to ramp up housebuilding across the country.
It said it would ensure all the new homes would be built by the next Parliament in five years’ time.
The housing minister Matthew Cook this week told the House of Commons its target reflected “the scale of house building needed to address the current acute and entrenched housing crisis in this country”.
He added: “In many parts of the country, particularly for those of us in urban areas, it is nothing short of an emergency and we need to take steps to respond to that.”
However, the RHA pointed out that the road freight and logistics sector was crucial to meeting the government’s goal:
“Our industry is vital to moving the materials to build houses across the country,” said RHA policy lead James Barwise.
“Every new home is a new delivery point – so more homes must be matched with an increase in premises and land allocation to service them.
“For the government to meet its ambitious house-building targets, there’s a need for urgent investment in our highways network to ensure that housing developments are approved and not at risk of being rejected.”
The RHA said housing developments were often denied planning permission due to underinvestment on the highways network; Barwise added: “Only by getting spades in the ground soon to provide a modern and efficient road network, can we meet these housebuilding targets.”
