WIREDGOV

Cllr Martin Tett, Local Government Association Transport spokesman, responds to the Government's announcement about pothole funding allocation.

"While £50 million is a step in the right direction, councils need more than 230 times that amount to cover the £11.8 billion cost to bring our roads up to scratch. The money announced today will help those councils receiving it to tackle potholes, but it would not even completely cover the cost of the £69 million faced by the average authority to bring its roads up to a reasonable condition.

"Councils fixed a pothole every 15 seconds again last year despite significant budget reductions leaving them with less to spend on fixing our roads. Local authorities are proving remarkably efficient in how they use this diminishing funding pot but they remain trapped in a frustrating cycle that will only ever leave them able to patch up those roads that are inadequate.

"Councils share the frustration of motorists having to pay to drive on roads that are often inadequate. Our polling shows that 83 per cent of the population would support a small amount of the existing billions they pay the Treasury each year in fuel duty being reinvested to help councils bring our roads up to scratch.

"The condition of our roads is only going to get worse unless we address it as a national priority. The Government's own traffic projections predict a potential increase in traffic of up to 55 per cent by 2040. Councils desperately need long-term and consistent funding to invest in the resurfacing projects which our road network desperately needs over the next decade."

Notes To Editors

Key findings of the 2016 ALARM survey, an annual survey of highway bosses in England and Wales carried out by the Asphalt Industry Alliance, are:

1. The one-off cost of repairing all our roads would be £11.8 billion compared with £10.5 billion in 2012 Councils fixed almost 2 million potholes in the last 12 months.
2. On average each local authority fixed 12,000 potholes last year. It would take 14 years to clear the repair backlog in England and Wales and it would take 65 years to resurface our entire road network. The average highway maintenance budget per local authority has fallen by 16 per cent. The average English authority faces an average £69 million estimated one-time cost to brings its road up to a reasonable condition

View report:

http://www.asphaltindustryalliance.com/images/library/files/ALARM%202016/ALARM_survey_2016_full_report.pdf