Local authorities in England and Wales spent £113m on filling 2.2 million potholes, but with all the heavy rain the overall state of the network still got worse and the spending shortfall continued to rise.
The 18th Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey was completed by 75% of councils across England and Wales. The 2.2 million potholes filled was an increase of 29% on 2011, when 1.7 million potholes were filled at a cost of £90m.
Councils paid out £32m in compensation claims to motorists, cyclists and pedestrians – a 50% rise on 2011 – while the cost of staff time spent on claims amounted to more than £13m, the survey authors calculate.
Across England and Wales, local authorities estimate that £10.5bn would be needed to bring their roads back into reasonable condition. One in five local roads now has a residual life of less than five years. The local road network accounts for 95% of the country’s highway network.
The survey was conducted by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), which brings together the Mineral Products Association and Refined Bitumen Association, organisations with a clear vested interest in highway maintenance.
The AIA wants central government to introduce longer-term funding mechanisms, allowing councils to move from one-year cycles of reactive work to planned, preventative maintenance programmes.
“Constantly having to patch up crumbling roads rather than using highway engineers’ skills properly, to ensure good road condition in a planned and cost effective way, is nonsensical and costly to the country,” said AIA chairman Alan Mackenzie.
“The Department for Transport’s Potholes Review was a welcome initiative and concluded that ‘prevention is better than cure’. When you add up all the costs incurred by not following this advice, it’s hard to understand why central government cannot find a way to invest in this much needed work and save on higher costs in the future.”
Using survey responses, the AIA has calculated that the extreme rainfall of 2012 contributed £338m-worth of damage to the roads.
“Emergency funding from government is welcome, but a little extra here and there makes very little difference,” said Mr Mackenzie. “The additional £215m announced in the autumn to help improve local road condition over the next couple of years doesn’t even cover the £338m of damage repair needed as a result of last year’s rainfall.
“It’s time to stop the rot. The government needs to make sufficient funding available now that will enable local authorities to get their roads back into a condition that will quickly and directly boost the economy, help businesses and improve local communities.”
The full ALARM Survey 2013 can be downloadable from http://www.asphaltuk.org/.
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