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LGA - Councils respond to PAC report on roads funding

Cllr Peter Box, the Local Government Association's Transport Spokesman responded to the Public Accounts Committee's report on roads funding.

"Decades of underfunding by Whitehall and recent severe winters have left large swathes of our roads in disrepair. As the Committee rightly recognises, this is leaving councils trapped in an endless cycle of only being able to patch up our deteriorating network.

"Councils need increased and consistent funding to invest in the widespread resurfacing projects which our network desperately needs if we're to see a long-term improvement. We agree that redirecting funding into road maintenance would also offer an instant boost to growth, improve road safety and save billions of pounds down the line from the current false economy of reactive repairs which many councils are trapped in.

"It will now take more than a decade and £12 billion to bring our roads up to scratch. The situation will only get worse with the Government's own traffic projections predicting a potential increase in local traffic of more than 40 per cent by 2040.

"Tackling this must be a national priority. The Government can do this by committing to greater roads funding and by injecting an extra £1 billion a year into roads maintenance – funded by investing 2 pence a litre from existing fuel duty."

Notes to editors

1. Between 2015/16 and 2021, the Government is spending £6 billion on maintaining the strategic road network which represents two per cent of roads carrying a third of all traffic. With 4,300 miles of SRN that is £1.3 million of funding per mile.

2. During the same period, the Government is spending £5.8 billion on maintaining and improving the other 98 per cent of roads controlled by councils and carrying two-thirds of traffic. With 183,400 miles of local roads that is £31,625 of funding per mile.

3. A national survey for the LGA found 83 per cent of those polled back the plan for existing fuel duty to be reinvested into roads maintenance. It is included in the LGA's blueprint for the first 100 days of the next government to tackle the key issues facing Britain today

LGA media release 5 July 2014: Invest fuel duty to allow councils to fix our roads within a decade

Contact

Greg Burns, Senior Media Relations Officer
Local Government Association
Telephone: 020 7664 3184
Email: greg.burns@local.gov.uk
Media Office (for out-of-hours contact): 020 7664 3333
Local Government House, Smith Square, London SW1P 3HZ

www.local.gov.uk

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