Bill to fix potholed roads soars by almost a quarter to £12.6bn

The nation’s pothole-plagued local roads have become so bad that the estimated bill to fix them has risen by almost a quarter in just one year to more than £12billion – and work would take almost a decade to complete.

The latest industry report says a severe lack of long-term investment in road maintenance has seen the backlog of repairs rise from £10.24billion a year ago to a staggering £12.64billion today – an increase of 23 per cent.

It now works out that £61,700 is needed to be spent for every mile of local road in England and Wales and it would take councils nine years to bring their crumbling networks up to scratch.

Edge of Thirteen: Britain’s crumbling roads would cost £12.64bn to fix, a report says

These astronomical stats have been revealed in the Asphalt Industry Alliance’s (AIA) Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance report – or ALARM for short – released on Tuesday.

The survey of councils found that the average authority’s highway maintenance budget for the financial year 2021/22 had increased by around 4 per cent on the previous year, though the amount actually spent on road upgrades had declined.

The proportion spent on the carriageway itself is merely a fraction of total budgets available.

For instance, just 5.1 per cent on road maintenance budgets in England (excluding London) is spent on the roads themselves, down from from 5.5 per cent a year ago. In London, the proportion spent on roads is down to 1.6 per cent from 2.0 per cent and just 3.0 per cent in Wales – down from 4.5 per cent in 2020/21.

This is partly because road maintenance budgets must also cover the cost of the upkeep of bridges and structural work, cyclical maintenance (such as sweeping, grass cutting, checking traffic signals and replacing street furniture) and street lighting.

It also claims that highway engineers are being forced to decide between keeping local roads open and safe by carrying out pothole repairs or improving the overall condition of roads with resurfacing.

This patchwork approach to local roads means that almost one in five maintained by councils could need to be rebuilt in the next five years due to their shocking condition, which is nearly 37,000 miles in total, the report said.

The report published today says a local road is now typically resurfaced once every 70 years. If one near you has just had a fresh coating of tarmac, this won’t likely happen again until 2092

The survey suggested that local roads are typically resurfaced only once every 70 years – up from once every 68 years when the same report was published 12 months ago. It means a street that has just had a fresh coating of tarmac will likely not be resurfaced again until 2092.

In comparison, one pothole is filled every 19 seconds on average at a total cost of £107.4million.

Rich Green, Asphalt Industry Alliance Chairman

However, because the majority of these are not permanent repairs, craters tend to reappear within months and require more funding to put right.

Commenting on the report released on Tuesday morning, AIA chairman Rick Green said: ‘The link between continued underinvestment and the ongoing structural decline and below par surface conditions of our local roads is clear.

‘The country’s ambitions to encourage active travel, plus cutting waste and carbon emissions, will not be achieved with a short-term approach that can’t deliver a first-rate local road network.’

He added: ‘Local authority highway teams have a legal responsibility to keep our roads safe, but do not have the funds to do so in a cost-effective, proactive way.’

David Renard, transport spokesman for the Local Government Association, said: ‘Despite the efforts of councils, which repair a pothole every 19 seconds, these stark new figures show our local road repair backlog is rising.

‘To clear this growing backlog, councils need further government investment and certainty over future funding over the next decade.’

Pothole are a plight to all road users, with craters in the road a particular danger to cyclists and motorcyclists. The RAC said pothole-related vehicle breakdowns hit a 3-year high in 2021

RAC head of roads policy Nicholas Lyes said the report ‘provides a sobering picture of the dire condition of our local road network’.

Earlier this year, the breakdown assistance provider said the number of pothole-related breakdowns its patrols attended in 2021 was the highest in three years.

Some 10,123 callouts last year were for cars damaged by potholes, which works out as an average of 27 per day.

Mr Lyes added: ‘The Government must now look at implementing a long-term funding strategy which ringfences a small proportion of existing fuel duty revenue to give local authorities the resources to properly plan maintenance and to ensure our local roads are once again made fit for purpose.”

Cycling UK head of campaigns Duncan Dollimore said: ‘Lack of funding and misplaced priorities from governments repeatedly prioritising major road building has left local roads in decay.’

Taking matters into his own hands: Sir Rod Stewart got to work last week as he helped fill potholes near his home in Harlow, Essex after claiming ‘no-one can be bothered to do it’

The report is published just one week after Sir Rod Stewart, 77, released videos showing him taking actions into his own hands to repair a potholed road near to his home in Harlow, Essex, after the singer claimed that ‘no-one else can be bothered to do it’ and he was unable to drive his Ferrari up and down it.

He added in the video shared on Instagram that an ambulance had suffered a punctured tyre on the same stretch of tarmac in recent days, such was the shocking state of the road.

Last week, This is Money had exclusive access to JCB’s new £165,000 PotholePro machine, which is available to councils to conduct permanent pothole repairs in a matter of minutes rather than hours.

A head-to-head race between the JCB and Stoke-on-Trent’s traditional pothole-repairing road gang found the bright yellow digger could mend a crater-plagued street six times faster.

> Read the full report on the JCB PotholePro here

This is Money last week witnessed first-hand JCB’s £165,000 PotholePro in action. It can do all the street-mending jobs usually required by three separate machines used by a traditional road gang (pictured in the background) and permanently fixes potholes six times faster

How to claim compensation for pothole-related vehicle damage

The average number of claims received by local authorities in England and Wales for compensation decreased in the last year, with 78 per cent of the total relating specifically to potholes.

The total amount paid in compensation claims, however, has increased to £8.9million, despite traffic levels remaining below pre-pandemic levels.

A further £11million was spent on staff costs to deal with the claims, bringing the overall total spent addressing claims to £19.9 million across England, London and Wales. This is the equivalent of £96.70 paid out each year per mile of road, the AIA says.

Although there is no guarantee that motorists will be able to claim any money back if their car is damaged, here is how to make a compensation claim for pothole damage:

1. Collect evidence: Make a note of the pothole’s location, the time and date you hit it and get a photo, if it’s safe to do so.

Then take your car to a garage for the damage to be assessed and get the mechanic’s report in writing as you’ll need this when making your case.

Remember, your case rests on the evidence you collect from the person you’re making a claim from so collect as much information as possible.

2. Find out who is responsible: The next step is to work out who maintains the road as different authorities are responsible for maintaining certain types of roads.

For example local roads, B roads and some smaller A roads are maintained by the local councils in England, Wales and Scotland.

If you believe the council is responsible, you’ll need to prove they’ve been negligent which is difficult.

Asking for copies of highway maintenance schedules and reports of incidents within 14 days of the accident will help to demonstrate that either the highway hasn’t been properly maintained or that a reported pothole problem hasn’t been addressed.

It’s important to have the evidence which shows if the council had acted, the incident wouldn’t have occurred.

3. How to make the claim: Now you know who’s in charge you’ll need to lodge a formal claim – see if the relevant body has a template you can fill in.

Include as much information as possible, including the mechanic’s report and repair costs and any photos you’ve taken.

4. Got an offer? Is the council’s offer acceptable, does it cover your costs? If not, go back to the council.

You have a right to fair compensation if the council or Highways Agency has failed in its duty to keep the road in a fair state of repair.

You also stand a better chance of settlement if the pothole has already been reported and the council hasn’t acted.

5. Offer rejected? If you feel your claim has been unfairly rejected, you can seek legal advice or make a case through the courts.

However, this could be a time-consuming process and is likely to be worthwhile only if the repair bill is considerable.

6. Claiming through insurance: If you have comprehensive cover you can claim for pothole damage on your insurance however it’s worth considering the cost of the damage as well as your excess payments and if the claim will affect your No Claims Bonus.

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