Catalogue description Ministry of Transport: Highways B (HB Series) Files

The Group and the Division were set up on 3 October 1960 under a reorganisation of the Highways and Traffic Groups and were dissolved in early 1964 under a reorganisation of the Headquarters Highways Organisation.

The Division had responsibility for highway administration in Wales and Monmouthshire and the southern counties of England except Buckinghamshire, Kent and the London Metropolitan Traffic Area. It was responsible, in liaison with the Highways Engineering and other road divisions, for policy on the Government's road programme and for selecting individual road schemes for inclusion in the programme. Other responsibilities included the preparation of the Ministry's Annual Report on Roads, policy on grants relating to planning blight, and the maintenance, improvement, and construction of roads and bridges.

The Division also had charge of administering the provisions of the Public Utilities Street Works Act 1950, the general supervision of the rate of commitment on classified roads, the preparation of quarterly reports on the state of classified roads schemes, policy on tolls and loans, and the administrative aspects of traffic census and research. It provided liaison with the Ministry of Housing and Local Government and dealt with general policy questions relating to the Local Government Commission for England and Wales and also general questions relating to classified roads.