Road maintenance
Equal investment needed to keep roads on the straight and narrow The government has recently announced that 32 local authorities will receive investment for essential repair work on their roads. But how will the funding boost connectivity, level up infrastructure and make journeys easier? The number of miles driven on UK roads with several having less than £9,000 has continued to grow exponentially. per mile to maintain their local roads. Over 327 billion miles were driven in Local authorities in England report that Great Britain in 2017, about 50 billion around 55 per cent of their highways higher than 20 years ago, and double maintenance budgets come from central what it was 20 years before that. government sources – predominantly The 2019 Annual Local Authority Road via the Department for Transport – with Maintenance (ALARM) survey reported the remaining 45 per cent coming from that, for the second consecutive year, local local authorities’ own sources, including authorities’ highway maintenance budgets council reserves and borrowing. In Wales, have increased overall by almost 20 per just over 70 per cent is allocated through cent. For councils in England and London the Welsh Assembly Government. this included a share of £420 million The latest ALARM survey, released additional funding allocated in towards the end of March, the November 2018 Budget. showed that the Chancellor’s The same report also additional £2.5 billion emphasised the wide Budget pothole pledge Roads Ministe disparity that exists would not be enough to across England, plug the gap in local Vere ha r Baroness s annou London and Wales road maintenance nced that 32 between the haves budgets, let alone local authori and have nots in all the rising backlog areas of highway of repairs. In fact, receive ties will soon i maintenance the Asphalt Industry n v e s tment f essentia funding and the Alliance, who produce o r l repair significant challenges the survey, argued w o o n their that still remain. Some that the green shoots roads rk local authorities, for of improving conditions example, received highway reported in 2019 have maintenance pots equivalent not been sustained, with to more than £90,000 per mile local authorities having to cope of their individual networks, while a third with an average drop in overall highway continue to struggle with reduced budgets, maintenance budgets of 16 per cent.
With overall local authority spending down, ALARM 2020 reports that this shortfall is now an average of £4.9 million (£5.4 million in England) for local authorities across England, London and Wales, up from £3.9 million last year. The research reveals that the are 7,240 fewer miles of road reported to be in good structural condition this year, with 15 years or more of life remaining, and 1,100 more miles of roads classed as POOR, with less than five year’s life remaining. London being prioritised At the start of the year, the County Councils Network revealed that substantial regional disparities in local investment in England’s roads was plaguing the country, with investment in pothole filling three times higher in London compared to rural areas. Shire authorities claimed that lower funding for shire counties and regional investment being disproportionately skewed towards urban areas has consequently left motorists in their areas ‘poor relations’ to those in the major cities. The County Councils Network used their findings to call for a fair share of the government’s £2 billion pothole fund and a long-term commitment to ‘level up’ investment. Six weeks later, Roads Minister Baroness Vere announced that 32 local authorities will soon receive investment for essential E Issue 27.2 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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