Repairing the potholes blighting Britain’s roads would price £17BILLION, figures present
Repairing the potholes in Britain’s pockmarked roads would cost £17billion, figures show.
And efforts to repair the nation’s transport network lack strategic planning and only amount to a ‘short-term’ solution, according to the Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (Alarm) report, commissioned by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA).
The survey found that one in every six miles of the local road network in England and Wales – or 34,600 miles in all – will lack ‘structural integrity’ within five years.
Meanwhile, projections indicate more than half – or 106,000 miles – of local roads will be in disrepair in 15 years’ time.
The annual report says the one-off cost needed to bring the network up to a condition that would allow it to be managed cost-effectively is £17billion – an increase of 16 per cent.
The findings come despite £20billion being spent on road repairs over the last decade, and one pothole being filled in on average every 18 seconds for the last ten years.
Repairing the potholes in Britain’s pockmarked roads would cost £17billion, figures show (File image)
One in every six miles of the local road network in England and Wales – or 34,600 miles in all – will lack ‘structural integrity’ within five years (File image)
Conservative transport spokesman Gareth Bacon (pictured) said: ‘It is clear that over many years governments of any colour have neglected Britain’s roads. Motorists are getting a raw deal’
The Daily Mail has been campaigning for an end to the pothole plague (pictured), which is costing drivers millions in repair bills
Conservative transport spokesman Gareth Bacon said: ‘It is clear that over many years governments of any colour have neglected Britain’s roads.
‘Motorists are getting a raw deal. Drivers contribute in excess of £30billion a year in motorist related taxes, including fuel duty, but only a fraction of that is spent on maintaining our roads.
‘If we ever want to get out of this problem, there needs to be some decisive action taken.’
David Giles, of the AIA, said nearly all local authority highway teams reported ‘no improvement to their local network over the last year’. He added: ‘There needs to be a complete change in mindset from short-term to longer-term funding commitments.’
The hard-hitting report’s key findings are that local authority budgets would need to double over the next ten years to maintain their roads – equating to an extra £7.4million each year.
Edmund King, the president of AA, said: ‘The UK is nowhere close to getting out of this rut.’
He is calling on Sir Keir Starmer’s Government to ring-fence increased funding for road repairs over a five-year period.
The Daily Mail has been campaigning for an end to the pothole plague, which is costing drivers millions in repair bills.
A spokesman for the Department of Transport, which is responsible for allocating funding for road maintenance, said: ‘For too long, this country has suffered from a pothole plague, which is why we’re investing £1.6billion to help local authorities resurface local roads and fix the equivalent of up to seven million extra potholes over the next financial year.’
