Just 3% of England’s council-run road network received any form of road maintenance during the last financial year, a new analysis of Government data has revealed.
RAC found that nearly 4,900 miles – out of 183,000 miles – of all road types were strengthened, resurfaced or preserved in 2023/24.
While this represents an 18% increase on the year before, it is still a 35% decline on 2017/18.
RAC’s research also found that half of England’s 152 councils did not complete any vital preservation work to prevent potholes forming on major A roads in 2023/2024.
RAC head of policy Simon Williams commented: ‘[I]t remains the case that still only a slither of England’s total road network is getting any maintenance attention whatsoever.
‘This reinforces our belief that most councils are in a cycle of merely filling potholes, rather than looking after their roads properly.’
The recent Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey found that over half (52%) of the local road network has less than 15 years’ structural life remaining.
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