Pothole bill for roads in England and Wales hits £16.8bn

That is according to the latest edition of the Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey report, published by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA).​

Less than half (48%) of the local road network are reported to be in good condition, with the remaining 52% stated to have less than 15 years’ structural life remaining.​

Meanwhile, the proportion of roads reported to be ‘green’ (in a good state of repair) has fallen by 1%. Those classified as ‘red’ (poor overall condition) has increased by 1%.​

The average frequency of resurfacing for all classes of roads is once every 93 years.​

The survey highlighted a repeated pattern of short-term cash injections from the government in an effort to slow the decline in road conditions, after longer periods of underfunding.​

Nearly all local authorities reported that, in their opinion, there had been no improvement to their network over the past year. And 65% stated that conditions had declined.​

David Giles, chair of the AIA said, “Over £20 billion (€23.8 billion) has been spent on carriageway maintenance in England and Wales over the last decade but, due to the short-term allocation of this funding, there have been no significant improvements in structural road conditions.”​

He called for a “complete change in mindset”, away from short-term to long-term funding commitments. “Local authorities need a minimum five-year funding horizon and there needs to be a substantial, sustained increase in investment with budgets ring-fenced specifically for local roads maintenance.”​

The survey identified an annual maintenance budget shortfall for all carriageways across England and Wales of nearly £1.3 billion (€1.5 billion), which was an increase of 58% on the figure reported 10 years ago.​

It claimed that local authorities in England and Wales would have needed an extra £7.4 million (€8.8 million) each to maintain their network to their own targets.