The Government has outlined where its record £6bn fund for potholes and local road improvements will be spent over the next six years.
Forecasts published by the Department for Transport (DfT) estimate the £976m yearly investment will be enough to fill around 18 million potholes across the country.
However councils said the cash would not cover the overall funding gap on road repairs.
The South West will benefit most from today’s announcement, receiving over £846m between 2015 and 2021. However the North East will be given the smallest regional sum of almost £268m.
With councils holding a larger highways network receiving a greater share of the funding, the South East has been allocated £777.8m and the east of England £644.6m.
Of the £625m given to the North West, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority will receive £146m and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority £88m.
Marking the first time councils have been given locked-in funding for a period as long as six years, the Government anticipates cash will support long-term maintenance scheduling.
Over £4.7bn will be shared between 115 councils, while a further £575m will be available through a challenge fund for maintaining infrastructure such as junctions, bridges and street lighting.
An incentive fund of £578m will also open in 2016 to reward councils that demonstrate they are delivering value for money in carrying out cost effective improvements.
Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: ‘The £6 billion funding I am announcing today will put an end to short term fixes and will mean we have committed £10 billion between 2010 and 2021. This huge investment is part of our long term economic plan to ensure we have a transport network fit for the 21st century.’
Yet Labour warned consistent Coalition spending cuts since 2010 had left another 2,262 miles of local roads needing repairs. Data from the DfT reveals spending on all road maintenance on local authority minor roads has dropped by 20% since 2010.
‘You can't believe a single word Ministers say. Local roads are in a desperate state under David Cameron,’ Labour’s shadow transport secretary, Michael Dugher, said. ‘Hard-pressed motorists and businesses are justifiably sick and tired of having their vehicles damaged because of Britain's pothole crises.’
While welcoming the funding, a Local Government Association (LGA) spokesman said: ‘Previous LGA analysis of the £6bn funding over five years found it equated to an extra £300m a year on top of the £700m councils were expecting, but was still £800m short of what was needed to repair the poor quality of roads in one year alone.
‘It would be more useful if the whole £6bn was given to councils to get on with the important job of fixing roads, rather than £1bn of it being tied up in Whitehall bureaucracy.’
