The number of additional cars being driven in the past decade would
cover the length of Britain’s coastline, heaping pressure on our
roads and driving home the need for greater investment in our
transport network, the Local Government Association says today.
More than 3.6 million additional cars were licensed between
2009 and 2019, according to latest figures for Great Britain from
the Department for Transport - an increase in overall licensed
cars of 13 per cent.
If the number of additional cars were lined up next to one
another, it would amount to more than 11,000
miles, the equivalent to the entire British coastline.
The LGA says this massive increase in cars and traffic
on our roads is contributing to worsening road conditions, poor
air quality, congestion and carbon emissions.
The number of vehicle miles travelled on council roads each
year increased by 3.3 per cent between 2009 and 2017. During the
same period, annual local authority expenditure on highways and
road maintenance fell by 32 per cent as a result of funding cuts
and unprecedented demand for other council services, such as
adult and children’s social care.
The Government spends 43 times more per mile on maintaining
the strategic roads network than the local roads network, and it
would take more than £9 billion and 10 years to tackle our
backlog of repairs on local roads.
As part of its Budget submission the LGA is calling for
government to reinvest 2p of existing fuel duty, worth
around £1 billion a year, in local roads maintenance to help
tackle this backlog.
The LGA is also concerned that transport funding is divided
up into multiple cash pots, with 11 different ways of allocating
money for roads alone, each with different rules, timescales and
allocations processes.
The LGA says a far better approach would be to provide
councils with stable, devolved infrastructure and public
transport budgets – ensuring a funding allocation in advance for
five years, which would enable them to deliver infrastructure
improvements that allow people to move around in less carbon
intensive and more sustainable ways.
Cllr David Renard, the LGA’s transport spokesman,
said:
“The sheer volume of traffic on our roads has completely
overtaken the amount councils are able to spend on local
transport.
“Councils need long-term funding certainty and investment
so they can create safe and attractive cycling and public
transport networks, and deliver a more resilient roads
network.
“With the UK hosting the UN Climate Change Conference later
this year, next week’s Budget is an opportunity for the
Government to demonstrate its commitment to tackling climate
change and investment in reducing harmful emissions from
transport, which is the single biggest contributor of carbon in
the country.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
Methodology
Increase in cars licensed from 28,322,600 in
3rd quarter of 2009 to 31,976,200 in
3rd quarter of 2019. This is an increase of
3,653,600 cars. (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/853452/veh0101.ods)
Using 4.8 metres as the length of an off-street car parking
space (according to the BPA), this equates to 10,897 miles.
(https://www.theaa.com/breakdown-cover/advice/parking-space-size)
Length of Great Britain’s coastline is 11,072 miles
(according to the Ordnance Survey https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/blog/2017/01/english-county-longest-coastline/)
Road traffic (vehicle miles) by vehicle type: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/852702/tra2501.ods
LGA budget submission https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/LGA%202020%20Budget%20submission%20FINAL.pdf
