Latest news with #AnnualLocalAuthorityRoadMaintenance
Daily Mail
23-04-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Mail
Pothole-related breakdowns rocketed in the first three months of the year, RAC says
Motorists are having to deal with a massive spike in pothole-related breakdowns and massive repairs bills to fix damage to their vehicles caused by craters in the road, the RAC has said. Its patrols attended 9,439 callouts responding to stricken vehicles that had been disabled by potholes between January and March. This was almost double the 4,709 breakdowns it responded to in the final quarter of 2024 - and almost a fifth more than the same three-month period from January to March last year (7,904). The motoring group said the data 'sadly shows the pothole plague is as prevalent as ever', adding that drivers are having to fork out an average of almost £500 for non-puncture repairs. Common vehicle problems caused by potholes include damaged shock absorbers, broken suspension springs and distorted wheels. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously said broken roads 'can risk lives and cost families hundreds if not thousands of pounds on repairs', adding that councils should 'get on with the job' of repairing them after the Government increased available funding. Potholes are typically formed during the colder and wetter winter months when water freezes and expands after entering cracks in road surfaces. However, the UK's winter of 2024-25 was not particularly cold or wet, according to a Met Office blog post. In fact, the nation's weather a climate service said the latest winter was both above average in temperature and below average in terms of rainfall. Yet the RAC said motorists have felt the brunt of an increase in pothole-related breakdowns in the opening three months of the year. Its head of policy, Simon Williams, commented: 'Our pothole-related breakdown data is a very clear reflection of the true state of the UK's roads, and it sadly shows the pothole plague is as prevalent as ever. 'Suffering a breakdown due to wear and tear caused by the poor quality of roads is frustrating beyond belief, particularly as the average cost of repairing anything more than a puncture is £460. 'The cost of motoring is high enough already without having to fork out extra money to get your car back on the road. 'Drivers shouldn't have to bear the brunt of these costs – they're only having to because the roads have been allowed to get into such a dire state. 'After filling dangerous potholes as permanently as possible, we urge councils to prioritise preventative maintenance such as surface dressing to stop future potholes appearing.' According to the latest ALARM (Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance) report from the Asphalt Industry Alliance, the cost of bringing pothole-plagued local roads in England and Wales up to scratch is estimated to be a record £16.8billion. However, authorities have just a fraction of that amount to maintain their routes. Local roads maintenance funding for England provided by the Government for this financial year is nearly £1.6billion – a rise of £500million compared with the previous 12 months. The increase is estimated to be enough to fix around seven million potholes. A quarter of the uplift is being held back until authorities have provided evidence they are using the funding wisely. Local Government Association transport spokesman Adam Hug said: 'Greater, long-term funding certainty for local highways authorities – with five-yearly funding allocations on a par with National Highways – is needed to tackle the multibillion-pound local roads backlog. 'This will enable councils to better monitor, plan for and invest in preventative treatments, which keep surfaces in better condition for longer and are cheaper than reactive repairs. 'The one-year boost to pothole funding confirmed earlier this month is good, and recognition that funding had been inadequate to keep roads maintained.' A Department for Transport spokesman said: 'This Government is ending the pothole plague on Britain's roads. 'We are investing £1.6billion to help local authorities resurface local roads and fix the equivalent of up to seven million extra potholes over the next financial year. 'With the average driver forking out nearly £500 to repair serious pothole damage, we know that fixing cratered roads is not just about pride in our communities, but the pound in people's pockets too. 'The public deserves to know how their councils are improving their local roads, which is why they will have to show progress or risk losing a quarter of our record funding boost.' Our five-step guide for pothole compensation claims 1. Collect the evidence If you're a motorist looking to make a claim for a repair bill for pothole-related damage, or a cyclist putting in a damage or personal injury claim after hitting one in the road, the first port of call is to make a note of where the pothole is located, the time and date of the incident, and take a photo of the pothole. A pothole needs to be at least 2 inches deep to be deemed a pothole in the eyes of councils. And it's not just the depth and size of the pothole that councils will try to use to refuse paying out compensation. Local authorities may defend a claim if they successfully argue that the pothole was not an obvious hazard - or if they were unaware of it, despite having in place a reasonable system of inspection and repair. To improve your chances of a successful claim, it will help to demonstrate whether the pothole was an obvious danger or not. Where possible, take photos at the scene, just in case the council repairs the pothole before you can return to take them. If you didn't do this at the time of the incident, you can return to the scene to take pictures. You should also take a photos of the damage the pothole has caused to your vehicle (or person, if you have been injured). If possible, take your car to a garage and ask for a mechanic's report in writing for the projected cost to fix the issue caused – or if your motor isn't drivable, phone a reputable repair centre and request a quote. 2. Work out who is to blame To make a claim for compensation, first you need to know who should pay out. If the pothole is on a motorway or main trunk road, the chances are it is a National Highways (formerly Highways England) problem. For local roads, you will need to research which council is responsible. Once you've identified the party you need to contact, request a copy of highway maintenance schedules and number of reported incidents on the particular road for the previous 14 days as evidence that the road hasn't been properly maintained or a reported pothole hasn't been addressed. 3. Make the claim You'll need to issue a formal claim to the local authority or National Highways and most responsible parties will have a template you can request from them. 4. What to do if you do - or don't - get a compensation offer After making the claim, you should be notified if compensation is being granted. Though you can still reject the value of the offer if you believe it isn't sufficient, especially if you have evidence that the pothole had already been reported but the responsible party had not acted to rectify it. If the council refuses compensation, you can seek legal advice or make a case through the courts. However, a word of warning that this could be a time-consuming process and is likely to be worthwhile only if the repair bill is considerable. 5. Final option: Make a claim through your insurance If you have comprehensive cover, you can claim for pothole damage on your insurance policy.
BBC News
18-03-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
South East pothole repair bill is £2.5bn
The backlog of repairs to "pothole-plagued" roads in the south east of England is £2.5bn, a report has half the region's road network - more than 13k miles - has less than 15 years' structural life remaining, according to the Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey, produced by the Asphalt Industry County Council (KCC) highways chief has called for a law change on roadworks permits and "significantly more" maintenance Department of Transport has been approached for a comment. The ALARM survey also found roads were only resurfaced on average once every 188 years in the South East. It said there was a "repeated pattern of short-term cash injections in an effort to stem the accelerating decline in road conditions, followed by longer periods of underfunding".KCC councillor Neil Baker said: "What we need is significantly more funds for ongoing road maintenance, over multiple years, so we can plan ahead."Roads have been underfunded for decades. It will take much more than a quick fix if residents are able to drive on surfaces they want and deserve." Calls to change law Fixing potholes raises a bigger issue, said Mr Baker, about the council's power over its own road are 5,400 miles of road in Kent to manage, and there has been an increase of a "few thousand closures annually to 16,000 closures a year", said chair of the KCC environment and transport cabinet committee, Sean while KCC issues the temporary road closure permits, it has virtually no say in when, where or to whom they can be issued, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Baker said nearly one in three of all permits issued were for "emergencies" which started immediately, with a minimum of two hours notice. Much of the work is utilities and broadband providers associated with house building or infrastructure repair or Baker said it was "impossible to co-ordinate" long-term maintenance projects and pothole patching. The transport chief has called for the Highways Act to be amended to allow councils to deny permits that are applied for.
Telegraph
17-03-2025
- Automotive
- Telegraph
Labour set to miss election pledge to fix a million extra potholes a year
Labour is set to miss an election manifesto pledge to fix a million extra potholes a year, a new report has warned. The Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) said that the cost of bringing Britain's roads back up to good condition had reached £16.8 billion, a record high. It comes after The Telegraph revealed that councils are leaving record-breaking numbers of local roads unrepaired. Tuesday's report, compiled by a trade association made up of road maintenance companies, found that local streets across the country were resurfaced once every 93 years on average. That figure is even higher for London's local roads, where resurfacing takes place once a century. Fixing every pothole in Britain would mean filling in one every 18 seconds every day for the next decade, the AIA added. Although councils' road maintenance budgets are averaging £26 million a year, five years ago that figure stood at £31 million, which the AIA said showed how highways maintenance had been deprioritised by central Government. David Giles, the Asphalt Industry Alliance's chairman, questioned on Tuesday whether Labour was going to meet one of its election manifesto commitments on pothole repairs. 'Is the new Government's manifesto promise to fix an additional one million potholes each year enough to have any real impact on the condition of our local road network? The findings of this year's ALARM [Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance] survey report suggest not,' he said. Last year's report revealed that 2 million potholes were filled in during fiscal year 2023-24, ending in March. In the latest edition, that repair figure stands at 1.9 million potholes – with the decline suggesting that Labour will miss its self-imposed target. The governing party's 2024 manifesto said: 'We will fix an additional one million potholes across England in each year of the next parliament.' Conservative shadow transport minister Gareth Bacon slammed the Government, saying: 'Successive governments of all colours have let motorists down. Motorists in 2023 paid more than £40 billion in taxes – a combination of vehicle excise duty and fuel tax – and a very small proportion gets spent on maintaining the roads. 'As a result of that, potholes have become an increasing problem. The Government is currently boasting about spending up £1.6 billion on fixing potholes, but this doesn't touch the sides.' Edmund King, the AA president, said a 'dismal two steps forward, three steps back' approach is being taken to tackling the 'pothole-plague'. He continued: 'The UK is nowhere close to getting out of this rut. Alarm's increasing £17 billion backlog of road repairs once again underlines the size of the task ahead.' Simon Williams, head of policy at RAC, said the figures 'paint a bleak picture of the state of the nation's roads' and confirm that 'in far too many parts of the country road surfaces are simply not fit for purpose'. He added: 'The lack of investment in our roads is a false economy as it just leads to bigger repair costs in the future – something local authorities can ill afford. 'In the meantime, all road users continue to pay the price with uncomfortable journeys, avoidable breakdowns and repair bills that they only incur because potholes are so bad.' Adam Hug, transport spokesman for the Local Government Association, which represents local authorities, said: 'It is no surprise to councils that the local roads repair backlog continues to rise, given inflation and huge demand pressures on local government statutory services. 'The funding increase in the last Budget was positive and must now be followed by a commitment in the spending review to a long-term financial package to tackle this backlog and put it into reverse.' A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: 'For too long, this country has suffered from a pothole plague, which is why we're investing £1.6 billion to help local authorities resurface local roads and fix the equivalent of up to seven million extra potholes over the next financial year. 'We want to achieve this in the most cost-efficient way for the taxpayer by providing local authorities with multi-year funding settlements, enabling them to better maintain their road networks and avoid potholes being formed in the first place.'
