The UK’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has called out DfT for not taking its responsibilities and use of public money on local roads seriously enough.
The state of England’s local roads is declining, as a multibillion-pound repair backlog grows. As people grow increasingly unhappy with the levels of disrepair and with increasing damage to vehicles from potholes, says a Parliamentary committee report.
Government data presented to the PAC’s inquiry shows the condition of local roads as stable – despite industry estimates showing that the condition of local roads is worsening, as public satisfaction falls and pothole-related incidents rise. With information only collected on unclassified roads on a voluntary basis from local authorities, the DfT admitted to the PAC that its data is not good enough. The inquiry also heard that local authorities may be doing just enough maintenance work to keep their roads from being rated ‘red’.
Over a billion pounds a year goes to local authorities as part of the Government’s funding to maintain local roads – but the PAC’s inquiry found that the DfT neither knows exactly how local authorities spend its funding as it is not ring-fenced, nor what it wants to achieve with it. The report further warns that funding is not being targeted at where it is most needed. The DfT does not take into account traffic volumes, underlying road condition or local environmental conditions such as whether a road is prone to flooding.
The PAC also criticises the short-term approach of central government funding for local authorities to repair local roads, which the DfT admitted to the inquiry is not best value for money. Providing only annual funding is likely to have pushed councils to focus more on reactive repair work, rather than preventing problems occurring in the first place. The report calls on Government to simplify its funding to local authorities (currently given through twelve different funding pots), and to provide longer-term certainty on the amount and duration of funding.
Responding to the report Cllr Adam Hug, transport spokesperson for the Local Government Association, said:
“Greater, long-term funding certainty for local highways authorities – with five yearly funding allocations on a par with National Highways – is needed to tackle the multi-billion pound local roads backlog, as this
report recommends.
“This will enable councils to far more effectively plan for and invest in preventative treatments, which keep surfaces in better condition for longer.
“The upcoming Spending Review provides an opportunity to give councils this long-term certainty, so they can help make our local roads more resilient to severe weather, boost inclusive economic growth and prevent
potholes which are more expensive to repair than preventative measures.”
