ARE POTHOLES A PROBLEM IN YOUR AREA? TAKE OUR POLL AND HAVE YOUR SAY
The UK's roads are at 'breaking point', with repairs to troublesome potholes at an astonishing eight-year high.
A persistent headache for both motorists and pedestrians, the unsightly road craters not only damage our vehicles but also pose significant safety risks, leading to accidents and even injuries. The national scourge shows little sign of improving anytime soon, with a report revealing repairs to the ruptured surfaces are at an astonishing eight-year high.
The Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) recently revealed that councils are expected to fix up to two million potholes in the current financial year, up by a sizeable 43 per cent on the previous year. In January, a Mirror investigation unveiled the shocking extent to which the UK's roads are riddled with dangerous potholes.
Following a freedom of information request, we revealed that council payouts for damage and injury caused by potholes since 2010 is more than £32million - and that's just for council's biggest payouts alone. These included claims for personal injury such as damaging or losing a tooth, fractures, broken bones, cuts and more, plus damage to vehicles. The single most expensive payout was made by Kent County Council over a pothole related incident in Maidstone in 2014 that saw the claimant receive £4.25million.
Experts told the Mirror that dwindling local government funding was one of the reasons roads across the nation were in such dire conditions. RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “The shocking figures could have been far lower if councils had had certainty of funding from government years ago. As it was, the amount of maintenance work, such as surface dressing and complete resurfacing, has suffered leading to roads deteriorating every year. This is a lose-lose situation as drivers suffer expensive damage to their cars and then have to fight for compensation, while councils have to fork out funds – a wholly unnecessary situation that both parties could well do without.
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“The Government has now committed to giving local councils £8.3bn over 11 years, so we hope this means they can start to bring at least some of their roads back up to standard. Going forwards, we want to see 2p-a-litre from fuel duty revenue ringfenced for local roads as this would give councils certainty of funding to continue to plan proper long-term maintenance.”
A spokesperson for the Local Government Association warned councils were facing an "increasingly challenging" situation. They cautioned: "Each claim for compensation sent to a council is robustly judged on its own merits and in accordance to the law. Instead of paying for costly compensation claims, councils much prefer to use their budgets to keep our roads in a good condition, in turn reducing the risk of damage to vehicles and personal injuries.
"However, this has become increasingly challenging, with an estimated and growing £14 billion backlog of repairs to bring all local roads across the country up to scratch. All councils need greater, longer-term funding certainty so that they can invest in preventative treatments that help avoid more dangerous potholes developing in the first place."
2024-04-16T10:48:40Z dg43tfdfdgfd