One in five Midlands roads 'in need of repair within five years'

A survey of councils by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) found more than 8,000 miles' worth of road could need to be rebuilt if the deterioration continues.

The report found that £4.6 million is spent on road user compensation claims, while a pothole is filled the equivalent of every two-and-a-half minutes across the region.

The findings have been revealed in this year's Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey, which received responses from councils including Dudley, Sandwell, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Telford & Wrekin, Walsall and Wolverhampton.

But despite a reported increase in average highway maintenance budgets, the organisation said repairs had increased by 44 per cent in the last year to £1.67 billion.

Rick Green, chairman of AIA, said: “Local authority highway teams have a legal responsibility to keep our roads safe, but do not have the funds to do so in a cost-effective, proactive way.

"As a result, while they report some slight improvements in surface conditions, the overall structure of our roads continues to decline and 22 per cent in the Midlands could need to be rebuilt in the next five years.

"Although surface repairs have a part to play in extending the life of local roads, short-term fixes, including filling potholes, is indicative of a network that is ‘on the edge’ and less efficient and sustainable when it comes to materials usage and whole-life carbon emissions."

The report found councils would have needed an extra £119.1 million last year just to reach their own target road conditions, before even thinking about tackling the backlog of repairs.

Mr Green added: “The link between continued underinvestment and the ongoing structural decline and below par surface conditions of our local roads is clear. The country’s ambitions to encourage active travel, plus cutting waste and carbon emissions, will not be achieved with a short-term approach that can’t deliver a first-rate local road network.

“Recent government announcements regarding three-year spending on maintenance for England are a step in the right direction but don’t go far enough. To ensure we have a safe, resilient, sustainable network on which we can all rely, a longer-term approach and significant investment is still needed.

"The longer it takes for the funding to be put in place to tackle the backlog of repairs, the more it is going to cost to put it right in the future. ALARM 2022 indicates that what is needed in the Midlands is an additional £228.4 million a year over the next decade to allow highway teams to bring local roads up to a point from where they can be cost-effectively maintained going forward."

Jack Cousens, head of roads policy at the AA, said the debate around roads maintenance usually leads to a "blame game" between local authorities and the Government.

Local and national government must get round the table and create a fully-funded plan that will help make our roads safer," he said.

"There is now a need to focus available road funding on the most basic need: fixing the roads – for the benefit of drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. Despite talks of levelling up, road users would simply like the roads levelled out."

The councils have been contacted to comment on the survey's findings.