About four in five local authorities in England believe there is a threat to drivers' safety due to road maintenance underfunding, a survey out today showed. London local authorities' road maintenance shortfall is £60 million, while the shortfall for English local authorities excluding London is £1.64 billion.
The Welsh local authority shortfall is £151 million, with all Welsh local authorities believing the underfunding threatens road users' safety, the surveyby the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) found.
Given adequate funds, it would take English local authorities (excluding thosein London) 10.9 years to clear their maintenance back log. The figure for London councils was 7.4 years and for Welsh councils 12.1 years.
English authorities last year paid out £47.3 million in settling claims byroad users for damage to vehicles or accidents due to road structural conditions. The figure for Wales was £5.3 million and for London £16 million.
The survey also showed that English local authorities are receiving only 32%of the budget they need for road maintenance, while Welsh councils are getting38% and London councils 58%.
Commenting on the overall London figures, AIA chairman Jim Crick said: "Thisis a serious shortfall for highways departments struggling to keep their roads up to scratch, but to put the figure in perspective, it is less than half the expected annual income from the London congestion charge. We realise that the charge was never intended for this purpose, but it's difficult to ignore the implication of these figures that priorities need re-addressing."
"He went on: "London enjoys a status as one of the major capitals of the world- but its roads simply don't reflect that position. The cycle of underinvestment
and reactive work has to stop if we are to use budgets effectively.
"Short-term spending is an expensive and wasteful way of using tax-payers' money to patch together the capital's roads. Long-term, properly planned, investment in road condition is the only way we are going to tackle the mounting problems and deliver a road network that meets the requirements of communities and business. We need to do it now."
Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Alistair Carmichael MP said: "These figures will be alarming to all road users. Pot holed roads are potentially lethal to cyclists, pedestrians and motorists.
"Yet at the same time as allowing the roads to go to pot we are sinking more and more money into new road building schemes. The Liberal Democrats have obtained Government figures which show how the cost of current national road schemes has escalated by £1.5 billion, almost enough to pay for the entire road maintenance backlog of local roads."
"Rather than funding costly and often unnecessary road expansion the Government should come forward with proposals which demonstrate how they plan to tackle this maintenance backlog."
Sheila Rainger, campaign manager for the RAC Foundation, said: "This survey shows the depressing results of a decade of disrepair. Like all motorcyclists, I have had the frightening experience of being thrown out of the saddle by an unexpected pothole.
"Lucky bikers will get away with a dented wheel-rim or puncture, but others will find themselves sprawled on the road at the mercy of the traffic."Road maintenance is the Cinderella of local authority services. Good roads may not be seen as a vote-winner but investment in properly-planned maintenance saves lives.
" A Department for Transport spokesman said: "The Government halted the deterioration in local road condition by 2004 as planned and is committed toeliminating the backlogs in carriageway, footway, bridge and street lighting maintenance. Over £3 billion has been provided to local authorities for this task in the past five years."
"We recently announced that we will provide £672 million for local highway maintenance next year. This is the highest level of funding for highway maintenance ever committed.
"Local authorities are also able to use money from their revenue support funding for road maintenance. It is up to them to spend the generous funding from central government as they feel appropriate to keep their local roads in good condition."
