The cost to repair the local road network in England and Wales has soared to £12bn according to the latest ALARM survey. This is an increase of £1.5bn from last year and is believed to be due to the impact of this winter’s record rainfall and flooding.
This headline figure, however dramatic, must not overshadow the real roads crisis: the need for a radical review of the road funding model and a long-term increase in budgets to allow local authorities to carry out planned programmes of road maintenance.
The survey carried out by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) found that although over two million potholes had been filled and repaired over the last year, the extreme rainfall and flooding has left the road network in a worse state than before.
Recognising the funding shortfall, the Government used the recent Budget to announce an additional £200m to repair potholes on top of the extra £140m provided to address the damage caused by the winter’s deluge. This additional funding is welcomed but set against a backdrop of a £12bn it is hardly going to have a real impact.
The fundamental problem is that decades of under-funding have forced local authorities to undertake short-term expensive fixes rather than implement programmes of cost-effective long term maintenance. The result is the £12bn bill that we now face to just get the road network into good condition.
We need to ensure that the headline figures of the ALARM survey are a wake-up call for all highway network stakeholders and government to work together to develop not just new funding mechanisms but also new ways of addressing how best to carry out road maintenance.
Otherwise, the survey will be viewed, particularly in times of reduced local authority spending, as a product of industry vested interest. Part of this wakeup call should be the widespread adoption of asset management by local authorities together with increased collaboration with industry to develop new thinking and innovative solutions. For their part, the industry contractor and supplier must be fully signed-up to best practice.
Above all, the Government needs to understand and address the disconnect between ad-hoc funding fill-ups and assured long-term investment in road maintenance. What is required is an intensive programme of repair followed by a fundamental funding review that includes better use of local authority reserves and the consideration of Private Finance Initiatives.
Only with such a review can the current approach of expensive short-term fixes be replaced by cost-effective, planned, preventative maintenance.
The ALARM survey shows that the current approach to potholes is clearly not working. We need ambitious thinking and a new approach that transforms the planning and delivery of road maintenance. Faced with such evidence of the continued deterioration of the road network it is obvious that doing more of the same is no longer an option.
Dr Howard Robinson is chief executive of the Road Surface Treatments Assocation (RSTA).
This feature first appeared in Surveyor magazine. This year's Highway Maintenance conference programme addresses the main issues, challenges and possible solutions that surround resilience and efficiency on the road network.
