MPs suggest five-year fund to tackle potholes

The Transport Committee has claimed that a five-year funding settlement is the only way local authorities will be able to address deteriorating local roads network and plan ahead.

The report from the committee addresses the extreme state of disrepair of the English local road network, and says that deteriorating local road networks undermine local economic performance and result in direct costs to taxpayers, either through rising costs of deferred work or through a mend and make do approach that does not represent good value for money in the long-term. Poor road conditions also damage vehicles and causes injuries to passengers, particularly those with existing medical conditions.

With local government revenue funding having fallen by about 25 per cent since 2010, many councils have had to take short-term, reactive decisions on road maintenance, which is less effective than proactive maintenance and undermines local economic performance. The committee warns that extracting a five-year settlement from the Treasury should not be an excuse to cut funding, calling for a longer-term strategy to allow councils to plan ahead and encourage innovation and collaboration.

Lilian Greenwood, chair of the committee, said: “Local roads are the arteries of our villages, towns and cities, but most people won’t have to go further than the local shops to spot a pothole that poses a risk of injury or damage.

“Local authorities are in the invidious position of having to rob Peter to pay Paul. Cash-strapped councils are raiding their highways and transport budgets to fund core services. This is not an isolated example – it’s been a common thread in our other recent inquiries on buses and active travel. Now is the time for the Department to propose a front-loaded, long-term funding settlement to the Treasury as part of the forthcoming Spending Review. Almost every journey begins and ends on local roads: the DfT must work with the public and local authorities to make them safe.”

Martin Tett, Local Government Association’s Transport spokesman, said: “This report rightly recognises the significant funding pressures councils are under and the detrimental impact this is having on local services such as roads maintenance. Councils are fixing a pothole every 17 seconds but need long-term government investment in the Spending Review in local road maintenance to address the nation’s £9.3 billion roads repair backlog.

“Councils have lost 60p out of every £1 in central government funding between 2010 and 2020, and are increasingly having to divert more and more money into meeting rising demand for children’s services, adult social care services and homelessness support.

“It is not right that the government spends 43 times more per mile on maintaining our national roads – which make up just 3 per cent of all roads – than on local roads, which are controlled by councils and make up 97 per cent of England’s road network. While the extra one-off £420 million funding announced in last year’s Budget has helped, we need government to follow with a long-term funding plan in this year’s Spending Review.”