The Department for Transport is close to appointing a private sector consortium to manage the £11 billion, five-year road programme

The management of England’s motorways and main roads is to be handed over to an American infrastructure company and a firm of accountants.

The Department for Transport is close to appointing a private sector consortium to manage the £11 billion, five-year road programme of Highways England, the body formerly known as the Highways Agency.

In a tacit admission that Highways England does not have sufficiently qualified personnel to build, upgrade and maintain the nation’s M and A road network, a “programme management partner” is to be appointed consisting of CH2M Hill, the US project management group; Mace, the London-based consulting engineer; and PwC, the accounting firm.

The shadow privatisation is one of the biggest outsourcings of public services into private hands in Whitehall’s history —