Figures from this year’s Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey report reveal the road condition crisis is worsening despite on average one pothole being filled every 18 seconds, every day, for 10 years

Now 34,600 miles of roads have less than five years’ structural life remaining, with the average road only resurfaced once every 93 years.

The industry is calling for an urgent change in mindset to tackle the problem with central Government providing clear long term funding to allow councils to set out a strategic roads upgrade plans.

David Giles, Chair of the Asphalt Industry Alliance, which commissions the ALARM survey, said: “Over £20bn has been spent on carriageway maintenance in England and Wales over the last decade.

“However, due to the short-term allocation of this 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.”

The ALARM survey reports local road funding and conditions in England and Wales based on information provided directly by those responsible for the maintenance of the network. This year’s survey, the 30th, received a record 78% response rate from local authorities.

Over the past three decades, ALARM 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 underfunding.

“There needs to be a complete change in mindset away from short-term to longer-term funding commitments,” added Giles.

“Local authorities do their best with the resources available. Nevertheless, they have told us they need their budgets to more than double for the next five to 10 years if they are going to be able to address the backlog of repairs.

“That is why we are calling on Government, particularly now with a Comprehensive Spending Review ahead, to set a minimum five-year funding horizon and a substantial, sustained increase in investment with budgets ring-fenced specifically for local roads maintenance.

“Investing to save in local roads would allow authorities to plan and provide better value for money for taxpayers and deliver a more resilient network while helping kickstart the Government’s economic growth plans.”