Earmark fuel duty money for pothole repairs - councils

A portion of the money raised from fuel duty should be earmarked for pothole repairs, the group representing councils in England and Wales has said.

The Local Government Association (LGA) said cuts to spending on potholes in the UK are among the most severe out of 13 major nations.

It puts the UK behind the US, Japan and New Zealand, which have upped spending.

The government said it was spending over £5bn in the five years to 2025 - enough to fix "millions of potholes".

But the LGA said far more - £14bn - was needed to bring the UK road network up to scratch.

The group said local roads maintenance in the UK had halved over 13 years, from £4bn in 2006 to £2bn in 2019, according to analysis of figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Only Italy and Ireland had seen similar levels of cuts in the same period, it added.

The US, Japan, New Zealand, Austria and Sweden have all increased spending by around half over the same period, while France, Canada and Finland have protected their pothole repair budgets more than the UK.

The LGA is calling on all political parties to commit to a 10-year programme to boost funding for local roads by devolving the equivalent of 2p per litre of existing fuel duty to help councils reverse the "decline" in road conditions.

"Decades of reductions in funding from central government to local road repair budgets have left councils facing the biggest ever annual pothole repair backlog," LGA chair Shaun Davies said.

"Positive extra funding in the recent Budget will help, but councils still face considerable challenges when trying to get on top of this pothole blight."

The AA has said winter damage to main roads is fixed rapidly in the spring, but residential and rural roads remain "blighted by potholes".

The government increased its Potholes Fund - which provides money to councils in England to tackle the issue - by £200m to £700m for the current financial year.

But shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said: "The prime minister posed as a friend of the motorist - but his broken promises have left millions of potholes on our roads."

The government said it had brought in new rules to clamp down on utility companies which leave potholes behind after carrying out street works.

"This year we've made £58.7bn available to local councils, a £5.1bn increase on last year, the majority of which is unringfenced and can be used on local priorities such as road maintenance," a government spokesperson said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story said that the LGA had called for a fuel duty rise. That is not correct. The LGA has called for central government to devolve 2p per litre of existing fuel duty to local councils for road repairs.