Funding for pothole repairs fell by 22% in 2021/22, leaving local councils down by around £400 million and leaving ten million potholes unrepaired…
Funds for Potholes Slashed
Funding issued to local councils in order to make road repairs has fallen by £400 million to £1.3 billion; according to the Local Government Association (LGA). Given that it takes, on average, £42 to repair a pothole, the nation’s councils will be making 64,000 fewer repairs. Overall, there’s a £10 billion backlog in road repairs across the country.
Now, the LGA is calling on the government to use the Spending Review to cover this year’s £400m drop; and to further commit an additional £500m a year to councils for road repairs. Ultimately, this would see the annual local roads maintenance budget raised to £1.8 billion. In addition, the organisation said that funding should take inflation into account; especially when dealing with the construction and maintenance of highways.
‘Desperately Needed’
David Renard, a councillor and transport spokesperson for the LGA, said that roads ‘desperately’ need improvement. He said, “with long-term and consistent investment in local road maintenance in the Spending Review, councils can embark on the widespread improvement of our roads that is desperately needed, to the benefit of all road users up and down the country, including cyclists”.
Jack Cousens, head of roads policy for the AA, has emphasised the danger potholes pose to vulnerable road-users – especially cyclists. He said, “emergency road repair funds of recent years have been targeted at main roads rather than residential and rural ones. These are the ones that vulnerable road users, such as cyclists, use the most. Pandemic lockdowns and cars parked outside homes got in the way of resurfacing schedules. But now it’s time to catch up”.
Cousens continued, “as the Government urges local authorities to ‘Build Back Better’, this should be the launchpad for a wide scale resurfacing of crumbling streets. With the Autumn Budget and Spending Review due in a couple of weeks, we urge the Chancellor to invest heavily in local roads to help level up the economy”.
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