How it arrived at its decision to separate the maintenance of trunk roads from the maintenance of side roads.

The decision to separate the maintenance of the trunk road network from the local road network was inherited by the Scottish Executive.The statutory provisions of the Trunk Roads Act 1936 drew the distinction between trunk roads and local roads.Up until 1996 management and maintenance of trunk roads were undertaken by local authorities on behalf of the then Secretary of State under the terms of Agency Agreements. Thereafter contracts were let for the management and maintenance of the Central Belt (Premium) network and the management of the remaining (All Purpose) rural network following a decision taken in 1995 by Ministers in line with European Directives to seek competitive tenders on a contractual basis.