This guidance is additional statutory guidance issued by the Secretary of State for Transport under section 18 of the Traffic Management Act 2004 (‘the act’). It applies to all highway authorities in England, who shall have regard to this guidance to deliver their network management duty under the act. It is effective from the date of publication and replaces the guidance published on 9 May 2020 and updated on 23 May 2020, 13 November 2020 and 30 July 2021. It does not replace the original Network management duty guidance (PDF, 71.7KB) published in November 2004, but provides additional advice. In particular, it may guide authorities to help meet the ambitions set out in Gear Change, including making permanent and capitalising on the changes made during the pandemic. The guidance sets out high-level principles to help local authorities to manage their roads and what actions they should take.