WIREDGOV

Cllr Peter Box, transport spokesman at the Local Government Association (LGA), responded to the Asphalt Industry Alliance's annual ALARM survey.

"Councils fixed more potholes than ever before last year – one every 15 seconds – despite spiralling multi-million pound compensation costs and funding cuts.

"It is hugely frustrating yet unsurprising that, despite our best efforts, we have not been able to make a dent in the £12 billion roads repair backlog. Patching up our crumbling road network is simply not the answer to tackle the roads crisis we face as a country.

"Councils need billions, not millions, to bring our roads up to scratch. Every mile of our motorways and trunk roads will receive £1.4 million funding over the next six years compared with £31,000 per mile for local roads. This makes little sense given the Government's own traffic projections predict an increase in local traffic of more than 40 per cent by 2040.

"Long-term and consistent investment in local road maintenance is desperately needed to allow councils to embark on a widespread improvement of our roads.

"We are calling for whoever forms the next Government to fund this by injecting a further £1 billion a year into roads maintenance by investing the equivalent of just two pence per litre of existing fuel duty."

Notes to editors

1. Key findings of the 2015 ALARM survey, an annual survey of highway bosses in England and Wales, are:
   • Councils fixed 2.38 million potholes in England in 2014 – up by a third.
   • Councils spent £144 million fixing potholes last year – up from £124 million the previous year.
   • The one-off cost of repairing all our roads would be £12.16 billion – up from £12 billion in 2013.
   • It would take 13 years to clear the roads repair backlog in England.
   • Councils paid out £32 million in compensation claims to people whose vehicles were damaged by potholes last year.
2. The LGA has set out proposals for what the next Government should do in its first 100 days in power to tackle the big issues facing Britain today, including bringing our roads up to scratch. It includes a call for the Government to inject a further £1 billion a year into roads maintenance by investing just 2 pence per litre of existing fuel duty. This should not be paid for by increasing fuel duty rates.
   
   Public polling carried out by Populus for the LGA found:
   • 83 per cent of people surveyed back LGA plans for existing fuel duty to be reinvested in roads maintenance.
   • Regionally, this rises to 90 per cent in Eastern England, 88 per cent in Wales and 85 per cent in Yorkshire and Humberside.
   • One in five respondents said they would be more likely to vote for a party which committed extra money to fixing our roads in next year's General Election.

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