A record £1.6billion will be spent on fixing potholes next year in a massive boost for the Daily Mail’s campaign to end the scourge.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander last night unveiled the 50 per cent hike in funding for resurfacing local roads – enough to fix 7million extra potholes.
Nearly £700million will go to town halls in the North of England and Midlands, with a further £678million for London, the South East and South West.
Nearly £245million will go to councils in the East of England.It means Labour looks set to exceed its manifesto promise of fixing 1 million more potholes a year in 2025/26, the year the funding relates to.
Motoring groups hailed the announcement, saying it could provide the ‘turning point’ for finally getting to grips with England’s crumbling local and residential roads.
Writing in today’s Daily Mail, Ms Alexander said: ‘Readers will know the Daily Mail has been campaigning for this action for years, and we are finally putting in the funding needed to reverse decades of decline.
‘We are ensuring every region gets its fair share, and empowering councils to tackle this problem head-on. They know local roads best, and they will prioritise repairs where people need them most.
‘So whether it’s helping families get to school safely, ensuring ambulances can reach patients without delay, or keeping delivery drivers moving, filling the nation’s potholes has to be a priority.
She added: ‘Potholes have plagued drivers across the country for too long, and the state of our roads has become a visible symptom of the national decline overseen by the previous government.
‘Today, I am announcing a plan to end this scourge, resurface roads, and back our nation’s motorists.’
She said the Government will also increase fines for cowboy roadworks firms which leave roads in a worse state than they found them or finish fixing surfaces well past the set deadline.
The Daily Mail has been campaigning to end the nation’s pothole plague, which is costing drivers millions of pounds in repair bills and putting cyclists’ lives at risk.
Every driver has to dodge six potholes per mile on average and £500 is the average cost of the damage they cause to vehicles.
Around one in every ten miles of local roads, which councils are responsible for fixing, now have surfaces in a ‘poor’ condition.
The crisis has sparked an 80 per cent surge in compensation claims lodged with town halls by cyclists and drivers, with nine in ten relating specifically to damage caused by potholes.
Trade body the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) estimates that the pothole backlog repair bill stands at as much as £16billion, suggesting the Government will need to keep pouring in funding if it is to get a grip of the crisis by the end of its first term.
The RAC’s Simon Williams said: ‘This is the biggest one-off road maintenance funding settlement councils in England have ever been given, so we have high hopes it’s the turning point that ends the degradation of our roads and finally delivers fit-for-purpose, smooth surfaces for drivers and all other road users.
‘What’s particularly positive is that this announcement is not just about giving councils money to fix dangerous potholes, it comes with the important caveat of using the money wisely by carrying out preventative maintenance to stop more potholes appearing in the future.’
Edmund King, AA president, said: ‘Drivers and riders across England will be pleased to see this significant cash injection into smoothing out the local road network.
‘With most journeys starting and ending on local roads, it is vital to restore the structural integrity of the streets we live on.
‘Clamping down on poor works carried out by utilities companies and overrunning roadworks is sorely needed, and we are pleased to see action being taken here.’