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Councils need to “get on” with fixing potholes, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer urged, as the government announced how it will allocate its \u00a31.6bn budget for road maintenance.<\/p>\n
Each local authority in England will receive a cut of the budget for the next financial year – which is \u00a3500m higher than the previous sum.<\/p>\n
Some of this uplift is being held back “until authorities have shown that they are delivering”, the government said.<\/p>\n
The increase, announced in the Budget in October, is estimated to fix an additional seven million potholes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Each local authority in England can use the money to identify which roads are in most need of repair and deliver “immediate fixes”, the government said.<\/p>\n
Allocations of the \u00a31.6bn investment include:<\/p>\n
Transport is a devolved matter in the UK – so this budget only applies to England.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Announcing the figures, the Department for Transport (DfT) said it was holding back 25% of the \u00a3500m uplift as an incentive until authorities had shown that they were “delivering”.<\/p>\n
The government would, it added, make sure authorities spent the money wisely and maintained roads to avoid further potholes.<\/p>\n
The Local Government Association (LGA) welcomed the funding, but asked the government to reconsider its decision to withhold a quarter of the uplift.<\/p>\n
It said councils needed “greater certainty” over the funding, and asked for greater long-term investment.<\/p>\n
Figures from monitoring group RAC show drivers encounter an average of six potholes per mile in England, and face spending around \u00a3500 on vehicle repairs because of pothole damage.<\/p>\n
Sir Keir Starmer said damaged roads could risk lives and cost families “hundreds if not thousands” on repairs.<\/p>\n
He wants his government’s new focus to be on people’s daily frustrations. Potholes is perhaps the archetypal example of an issue that enrages many. <\/p>\n
But it is down to local councils, not national government, to deliver these repairs. <\/p>\n
The LGA suggested more than \u00a316bn could be needed to fix the backlog in road repairs.<\/p>\n
According to the RAC, the UK faces a “pothole epidemic”.<\/p>\n
A pothole is a hole in a road surface caused by factors such as repeated traffic impact and water damage.<\/p>\n
Depending on its size, it can cause significant damage to vehicles and pose a danger to motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.<\/p>\n
The average cost of fixing a pothole is \u00a372 in England, according to a report<\/a> by the The Asphalt Industry Alliance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n