David Giles, Chair of the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), has responded to yesterday’s news that Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander’s car had to be towed after hitting a pothole.

“Heidi Alexander’s experience is unfortunately one that is shared by many and highlights, yet again, the woeful condition of our local roads. Thankfully it was only the Transport Secretary’s car that was damaged. Had she been on two wheels, the consequences could have been far more serious.

“Just last month we published the findings of our Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey report which highlighted the scale of the problem, with the backlog of repairs in England and Wales now reported to stand at a whopping £18.62bn.

“However, while potholes may be a curse for road users up and down the country, they are not inevitable: they are the symptom of a network that has been underfunded for decades and has become increasingly fragile as a result.

“The Government has made a welcome step forward in addressing the situation with its commitment to increase funding to 2030 and its new measures to ensure it is spent on our local roads and not diverted elsewhere.

“But, this is not the silver bullet that will help local authority highway engineers clear the backlog of repairs any time soon and it will be some time before the public notices the impact.

“What we need now is for the Government’s to fully deliver the additional funding pledged in the years to 2030. This should help support a shift away from the seemingly endless cycle of pothole patch and repair and allow local authority highway teams to sooner deliver the necessary resurfacing and proactive programmes that prevent potholes forming in the first place.”

(Picture: Yay Images)