Pothole fund boosted to repair roads after winter damage

Local roads badly affected by recent winter weather will benefit from a further £100 million to help repair any potholes and other storm damage, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling announced today (26 March 2018).

This money will help repair almost 2 million potholes as well as help protect the roads from any future severe weather.

This is on top of the £75 million in government funding already given to councils from the Pothole Action Fund this year, as well as the additional £46 million boost for highways authorities announced just before Christmas. Around 7 million potholes will be filled due to this money, announced in the 2016 Budget.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said:

People rely on good roads to get to work and to see friends or family.

We have seen an unusually prolonged spell of freezing weather which has caused damage to our local roads.

We are giving councils even more funding to help repair their roads so all road users can enjoy their journeys without having to dodge potholes.

Already, £2.5 million has been allocated to Devon County Council to quickly repair the A379 which was badly damaged by Storm Emma.

The government is also investing more than £900,000 in innovations using connected vehicles to help councils more efficiently manage and plan maintenance works. These trials will ultimately help provide councils with data to enable them to repair potholes before they occur as well as maintain their other assets more effectively as part of their asset management plans. This will help prevent further potholes and other road defects occurring over time.

Blackpool Council has been given £100,000 to lead on a digital inspector scheme with 8 councils. This will see high definition cameras mounted on vehicles to collect data on road and path conditions, which is then analysed by computers to highlight where roads are deteriorating. The City of York will also get £72,000 to use a similar system to build on its pothole spotter trial.

Transport for the West Midlands, West Sussex County Council, Buckinghamshire County Council, Croydon Council and Southampton City Council have also been awarded funding for road condition monitoring innovations. Swindon Borough Council will trial the use of smartphone sensors to collate road conditions and Essex County Council will work with Daimler to use information collected by its cars. Derby City Council and Oxfordshire County Council will use connected vehicles to collect data on the condition of road signs.

Westminster City Council will trial the use of cameras to provide real-time updates so people can locate parking spaces easier.

The department is also providing £30,000 to the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT) to work on technological and innovative improvements to future-proof the local road network.

This fund is on top of the record £6 billion the government is providing local authorities between 2015 and 2021 to maintain and improve their roads.

Pothole/flood resilience funding

*Devon will also receive £2.5 million for the A379 road repairs as announced by the Prime Minister on 7 March 2018.