Radical plan needed to combat number of vehicles on the road

The Local Government Association has revealed that motorists in England spent more than one million years on the road in total in 2016, traveling 277 billion miles.

Qualifying this as the equivalent of 989 trips to Mars and back, the LGA said the figures highlight the urgent need for real investment by the government into local roads.

With the bill to address local road repairs already reaching nearly £10 billion, the LGA is urging the government to carry out a radical new strategy to provide a fully-funded plan for the growing number of vehicles on the nation’s roads, including new powers to better manage congestion and new income to generate council spend on maintenance.

Council leaders say that reinvesting 2 pence per litre of existing fuel duty would generate £1 billion a year for councils to spend on local roads, thereby improving road surfaces and reducing congestion.

Martin Tett, LGA Transport spokesman, said: “The consistent increasing use of our roads means that it is more important than ever for the government to further invest in local roads. Only long-term and consistent investment in local road maintenance will allow councils to embark on the widespread improvement of our roads that is desperately needed, to the benefit of all road users up and down the country.

“The LGA has been calling on the government to reinvest 2 pence per litre of existing fuel duty into local road maintenance which would generate £1 billion a year for councils to spend on improving roads and filling potholes and begin addressing the £9.31 billion roads repair backlog.”