Responding to a poll of drivers by the AA on the condition of
roads, Cllr Martin Tett, the Local Government Association’s
Transport spokesman, said:
“Only long-term and consistent investment in local road
maintenance can 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.
“It is therefore wrong that funding for local roads is miles
behind that of the strategic road network.
“Very few journeys begin and end on a motorway or trunk road
yet government funding on the strategic road network is
52 times higher than for local roads. Spending more on improving
our national roads will only serve to speed vehicles up between
increased delays and congestion on local roads.
“Councils are fixing a pothole every 19 seconds despite funding
pressures. They want to do more but are trapped in an endless
cycle of patching up our deteriorating network. It would already
take £12 billion and more than a decade for councils to clear the
current local roads repair backlog.
“The LGA has been calling on the Government to reinvest
2 pence per litre of existing fuel duty into local road
maintenance and are encouraged that the AA is now backing our
call for action.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
- In 2000, there were 24.2 million licensed cars in Great
Britain, compared to 31.1 million in 2017, a rise of 6.9 million.
Last year the LGA published a report – ‘A country in a jam:
tackling congestion in our towns and cities’ – which
revealed the extent of the country’s congestion crisis.
- Local roads, including A roads, that are maintained by
Councils cover 184,108 miles compared to just 4433 miles on the
Strategic Road Network (STN), which covers motorways
- https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/road-lengths-in-great-britain-2016
- The Government will invest £21,606.83 per mile, compared to
£1,123,382.60 per mile for maintenance of the strategic roads
network (STN) over the five year period to 2020
