02 July 2019 - UK's pothole crisis could require 10 years and 10bn to be solved
'Pothole plague' could take 10 years and £9.8bn to cure, parliament committee report finds
Matt Strudwick, Content Editor (Surrey Live, 01/07/2019)
England's "pothole plague" will take 10 years to cure, according to a report by a parliament committee.
Taxpayers would have to foot a total bill of £9.8 billion for local authorities to bring the country's roads up to scratch.
The staggering figure is revealed in a 56-page damning report by the Transport Committee who say the government's short-term approach to funding road maintenance is "not fit for purpose".
Within the pages it reveals the cost of a one-time "catch-up" to deal with a maintenance backlog would be around £70 million for each of England's councils and £32 million per London authority.
MPs call for five-year plan to cure ‘plague of potholes’
Aaron Morby (Construction Enquirer, 02/07/2019)
MPs have slammed the feast and famine funding approach to retrospectively tackle potholes rather than introducing properly funded planned proactive maintenance.
The call for a rethink on funding has been supported by civil engineering contractors who warned funding pots are being plundered to fund core local authority services.
The Committee’s report, ‘Local roads funding and maintenance: filling the gap’, noted that local government revenue funding had fallen by about 25% since 2010.
A lack of funding certainty has caused many councils to take short-term, reactive decisions on road maintenance, which is less effective than proactive maintenance and undermines local economic performance.
Plague of potholes is damaging cars and putting cyclists in danger
Jonathan Walker (Birmingham Live, 01/07/2019)
Failure to mend potholes is damaging cars, putting cyclists at risk and hurting the economy, MPs have warned.
They called for a five-year plan to fix Britain’s broken roads.
The problem is partly a result of the ad-hoc way local roads are maintained, with councils responsible for keeping them in good condition at the same time as they struggle to cope with budget cuts,
MPs on the House of Commons Transport Committee issued the warning in a new report, saying: “Many people will not have to travel further than their local shops to see an extreme state of disrepair.
Pothole CRISIS solved? England and Wales 'WASTING' money when there is a simple solution
Charlotte Davis (Express, 22/04/2019)
Potholes continue to cause havoc on parts of Britain’s roads and the AIA, whose members supply much of the materials used for filling in holes, have outlined the simple solution to England and Wales’s deteriorating road conditions. The Government announced towards the end of March that councils in England will receive an extra £50million for potholes and flood resilience. A further £151million will go to reward best practice. But the AIA has insisted local authorities across England and Wales must be granted with at least £1.5bilion each year for the next ten years in order to bring the local road network up to reasonable conditions.
“But yes, there are an awful lot of potholes.
“We have spent a £1billion in the last decade filling potholes, which actually is wasted money because potholes really are the symptom of poorly maintained roads.