Motorists driven mad by potholes on the roads will welcome a £200m fighting fund to repair them due to be announced in today's Budget.
Nearly half of us have to swerve to avoid the road menace every day, according to a recent survey, and just under half of motorists reported damaging their car by hitting a pothole, the poll by market research company Consumer Intelligence found. Of those, one in five said they had incurred repair bills of more than £100.
Jeremy Hunt's pledge means around four million more holes will be filled in, according to the Daily Mail, and the money is earmarked for town halls, meaning residential streets, country lanes and smaller B and C roads will benefit. The Chancellor is expected to announce that the cash will be released to councils in England in the coming weeks.
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Town hall bosses have long argued they need a bigger share of the cash that goes towards roads. National Highways receives £7bn to manage and repair motorways and major A roads, and the cost of asphalt and concrete has soared amid the cost of living crisis, pushing the price tag to repair an average pothole to £50.
Department for Transport figures show about half of roads need resurfacing in some areas of the country and around 25% of smaller B and C roads are in need of fixing. Transport Secretary Mark Harper told The Mail: "Potholes are a blight on Britain's roads. This latest round of funding shows we are committed to supporting all road users – from motorists to cyclists and bus passengers – and making journeys smoother and safer for all."
The money will be in addition to the £1.125bn being spent annually between 2020 and 2025 on resurfacing and repairing highways.
Edmund King, president of the AA, welcomed the announcement, saying: "This £200m pothole bonus is a welcome contribution in the short term to help fill the plague of potholes which is blighting drivers, motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians," but the RAC's roads policy chief, Nicholas Lyes, was more measured, saying: "While welcome, another £200m is unlikely to make a big difference to the overall quality of our dilapidated local roads."
Six in 10 of the drivers polled blamed the pothole plague on councils were failing to fix them properly, with North Tyneside Council coming under fire earlier this year, after motorists took to social media to complain about potholes and flooded areas on the road from Whitley Bay caravan park to The Delaval Arms pub.
Many residents voiced their frustration on Facebook, with one residents claiming there was a six-inch deep hole hidden under water. The council was forced to issue an apology and invite affected drivers to issue an insurance claim against the council.
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