Councils face £375m pothole swindle, Labour analysis shows

Monday, 22 February 2021 10:26

Councils will lose out on £375 million of funding to fix potholes next year, new figures have revealed. The cash promised to local authorities by the Government to repair damage on roads across the country has been cut from £1.5bn in 2020/21 to £1.125bn the following financial year. Pothole funding will be cut by an average 23%. Yorkshire will see the steepest drop of 28%. Total spending on roads maintenance will drop by an average of 22%. It comes just weeks after...Request free trial

Councils will lose out on £375 million of funding to fix potholes next year, new figures have revealed.

The cash promised to local authorities by the Government to repair damage on roads across the country has been cut from £1.5bn in 2020/21 to £1.125bn the following financial year. Pothole funding will be cut by an average 23%. Yorkshire will see the steepest drop of 28%.

Total spending on roads maintenance will drop by an average of 22%.

It comes just weeks after the Chancellor urged people to “enjoy” National Pothole Day “before they’re all gone” and days after ministers boasted about funding given to councils this year – despite it being billions short of what is required.

Independent experts have found it will take 11 years and £11bn to clear the backlog.

Jim McMahon MP, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, said:

“It appears the Government is trying to quietly scale back its promises to councils and do them out of the cash they desperately need.

“Local authorities are being forced into economically illiterate tax hikes while motorists are left to contend with problems that will take more than a decade to fix.”

Ends

Notes to editors

This current financial year saw the first of the £500 million additional maintenance money that the Government promised previously – this was in addition to the £1 billion baseline that already existed; meaning councils got £1.5 billion in total.

Budget 2020, March 2020, p79, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/871799/Budget_2020_Web_Accessible_Complete.pdf

Councils were expecting to be getting approx. £1.5 billion per year, each year for the rest of this parliament. Instead they are going to get £1.125 billion for 21/22.

This means councils will be facing a £375 million reduction in next financial year’s funding.

National infrastructure strategy, p29, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/938539/NIS_Report_Web_Accessible.pdf

Future years funding beyond the next financial year will be determined in the next spending review.

National infrastructure strategy, p29, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/938539/NIS_Report_Web_Accessible.pdf

In January the Chancellor confidently asked people to ‘enjoy #NationalPotholeDay before they're all gone...’

15. January 2021, https://twitter.com/RishiSunak/status/1350144375813246976?s=20

Last year the Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey found that:

£11.14 billion – estimated one-time cost to get roads back into a reasonable, steady state up from £9.79 billion reported in 2019

11 years – estimated time it would take to clear the maintenance backlog if local authorities had the funding and resources available to do the work.

Asphalt Industry Alliance, 25^th Annual ALARM, 23 March 2020, https://www.asphaltuk.org/press_releases/25-years-of-alarm-and-still-no-silver-lining/

Regional figures:

Direct Government funding to pay for potholes will drop by an average of 23% from 2020/21 to the next financial year 2021/22. Yorkshire will see the steepest drop of 28%

Total direct Government funding for wider roads maintenance will drop by an average of 22%


Highways maintenance funding allocations to councils for 2020/21 and 2021/22 in cash terms by region, £


	Region	Government funding specifically for Potholes	Total Highways Maintenance funding allocation (of which potholes is included)


2020/21	East Midlands	72,049,000	197,433,000
	East of England	88,583,000	237,476,000
	North East	36,672,000	105,283,000
	North West	84,448,000	244,320,000
	South East	108,576,000	300,706,000
	South West	112,510,000	300,792,000
	West Midlands	74,741,000	201,304,000
	Yorkshire and the Humber	72,419,000	196,049,000
	England	649,998,000	1,783,363,000


2021/22	East Midlands	57,358,000	154,142,000
	East of England	68,534,000	183,602,000
	North East	28,492,000	82,946,000
	North West	66,467,000	193,309,000
	South East	82,693,000	233,678,000
	South West	90,031,000	233,355,000
	West Midlands	54,486,000	154,217,000
	Yorkshire and The Humber	51,940,000	149,751,000
	England	500,001,000	1,385,000,000


% change	East Midlands	-20%	*-22%*
	East of England	-23%	*-23%*
	North East	-22%	*-21%*
	North West	-21%	*-21%*
	South East	-24%	*-22%*
	South West	-20%	*-22%*
	West Midlands	-27%	*-23%*
	Yorkshire and The Humber	-28%	*-24%*
	England	*-23%*	*-22%*

Labour and House of Commons Library analysis of - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/highways-maintenance-funding-allocations/highways-maintenance-funding-formula-allocations-2021-to-2022