Responding to the Asphalt Industry Alliance’s annual ALARM
survey, Cllr , Transport spokesperson
at the Local Government Association, said:
“It is becoming increasingly urgent to address the roads crisis
we face as a nation. Our roads are deteriorating at a faster rate
than can be repaired and it would take more than £12 billion and
be 2030 before we could bring them up to scratch and clear the
current roads repair backlog.
“Local authorities fixed a pothole every 19 seconds again last
year despite significant budget reductions leaving them with less
to spend on fixing our crumbling roads. Councils are
proving remarkably efficient in how they use this
diminishing funding pot but they remain trapped in a
frustrating cycle that will only ever leave them able to patch up
our deteriorating roads.
“Councils share the frustration of motorists having to drive on
roads that are often inadequate. Our polling has shown that 83
per cent of those polled would support a small amount of the
billions paid to the Treasury each year in fuel duty being
reinvested to help councils bring our roads up to scratch.
“Our roads crisis is only going to get worse unless we address it
as a national priority. The Government’s own projections
show a 85.5 per cent increase in congestion by 2040. Councils
desperately need long-term and consistent funding to invest in
the resurfacing projects which our road network needs over the
next decade.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
Key findings of the 2017 ALARM survey, an annual survey of
highway bosses in England and Wales carried out by the Asphalt
Industry Alliance, are:
- One in six of our local roads will need to be repaired or
closed, within the next five years.
- English and Welsh local authorities are reporting a shortfall
in funding totalling nearly £730 million a year – the equivalent
of £4.3 million per council.
£85.7
million per authority – estimated one-time
catch-up cost in England to get roads back into reasonable
condition (£21.4 million in London; £26.9 million in Wales).
- Local authorities need more than £12 billion to bring the
network up to scratch and, given adequate funding and resources;
it will take well over a decade to implement this one-time catch
up.
A previous LGA survey found 83 per cent of those polled would
support a move to reinvest a proportion of existing fuel duty
back into local areas to help bring our roads up to scratch.
