The backlog for road repairs in England and Wales has reached almost £17bn, according to the Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) report.
The Asphalt Industry Alliance’s (AIA) survey has found in recent years that the bill has skyrocketed from the low billions of pounds 20 years ago, to £12bn by the mid-2010s, and now rising even further – with roads now only resurfaced on average once every 93 years.
More than half of the road network (52%) – around 106,000 miles – is reported to have less than 15 years structural life remaining. Almost a third of this number – 34,600 miles or one in six of the total – has only up to five years life left.
The 30th ALARM survey received a record 78% response rate from local authorities. Over the past three decades it has reported a repeated pattern of short-term cash injections in an effort to stem the accelerating decline in road conditions, followed by longer periods of cuts and underfunding.
The findings of ALARM 2025, which relate to the 2024/25 financial year, show that English and Welsh local authorities need an extra £7.4m each to maintain the network to their target conditions. £16.81 billion is now reported to be required, as a one-off, for local authorities to bring the network up to their ‘ideal’ conditions.
Some 24,400 miles (12%) of the network are likely to need some form of maintenance in the next 12 months, but just 1.5% of the local road network was resurfaced in the last year with some 1.9 million potholes filled at a cost of £137.4 million.
David Giles, Chair of the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), which commissions the ALARM survey, said:
“Over £20 billion has been spent on carriageway maintenance in England and Wales over the last decade, including spending to fill the equivalent of one pothole every 18 seconds, every day, for 10 years.
“However, due partly to the short-term nature of the allocation of funding, it has resulted in no quantifiable uplift in the condition and resilience of the network.
“In fact almost all (94%) local authority highway teams reported that, in their opinion, there has been no improvement to their local network over the last year: a view no doubt shared by the majority of road users.”
“There needs to be a complete change in mindset away from short-term to longer term funding commitments.”
Local Government Association Transport Spokesperson, Cllr Adam Hug, added:
“It is no surprise to councils that the local roads repair backlog continues to rise, given inflation and huge demand pressures on local government statutory services.
“The funding increase in the last Budget was positive and must now be followed by a commitment in the Spending Review to a long-term financial package to tackle this backlog and put it into reverse.
RAC Head of Policy, Simon Williams, said:
“The lack of investment in our roads is a false economy as it just leads to bigger repair costs in the future – something local authorities can ill-afford.
“In the meantime, all road users continue to pay the price with uncomfortable journeys, avoidable breakdowns and repair bills that they only incur because potholes are so bad.”
LCRIG CEO, Paula Claytonsmith, said:
“Our research makes it clear: short-term funding and ad hoc funding pots is trapping the sector in a cycle of reactive fixes, stifling innovation and leading to outdated maintenance strategies that ultimately cost the economy more in the long run.
“Without bold, long-term financial assurances for councils, the situation will only worsen.”
AA President, Edmund King, said:
“A dismal ‘two steps forward, three steps back’ picture of the UK’s pothole plague has emerged in ALARM’s latest report. The UK is nowhere close to getting out of this rut.
“However, pothole-related breakdowns recorded by the AA, the UK’s biggest motoring organisation, showed a very slight year-on-year dip in incidents. While that doesn’t guarantee that the UK has turned a corner, it offers some hope that increased funding will eventually make a difference.”
Motorcycle Action Group Director of Campaigns and Political Engagement, Colin Brown, said:
“We too want to see a substantial and sustained increase in highway maintenance budgets. The National Highways model of frontloaded investment with full delivery across two five-year investment periods has been proven to work. We also agree with the report’s recommendation that this investment must be ring-fenced for local road maintenance with targeted and accountable budget allocations.”
IAM RoadSmart Director of Policy and Standards, Nicholas Lyes, said:
“While filling a pothole provides temporary respite and a brief improvement in the safety of the road surface, it is essentially a sticking plaster because the section will crumble away under the weight of traffic and from the effects of a cold winter.
“We need to start properly resurfacing our roads to ensure we’re not throwing good money at bad roads, but most importantly to ensure smooth and safe journeys.”
Institute of Highway Engineers Chief Executive, Lyle Andrew, said:
“Short-term funding allocations have failed to provide the necessary improvements required to uphold network resilience. It is clear that the only viable option is long-term investment in order for local authorities to carry out essential works to the local roads.”
Asphalt Group Managing Director Stephen Cooke, said:
“The latest ALARM survey makes for horrific, but unsurprising, reading. The amount of money needed to bring the road network back to a reasonable condition is eye watering.
“We cannot go on like this and things need to change. For a long time the sector has called for longer term funding so that councils can plan their road maintenance and ensure that roads last longer.
“There needs to be better collaboration, funding for maintenance to ensure resilience of the transport network and frankly a change in mindset from the top to the bottom of the industry.
“There are several social, economic, safety and environmental benefits that are brought about through building a longer lasting road network. We must immediately move away from a patch and mend philosophy and instead put the focus on making roads last longer. Asphalt Group is ready to take action.”
Image from Shutterstock
