Sir Keir Starmer has told local councils to “get on” with fixing potholes in their areas as Labour pledges an extra £500 million to boost repairs.
Authorities will each receive a cut of the £1.6bn set aside for road maintenence last year, as Labour tops up the fund by nearly 50 per cent from last year.
The funds will fix the potholes that ‘plague’ the country’s roads, the Department for Transport (DfT) has said, with the equivalent of 7 million extra potholes set to be fixed in 2025/26.
Statistics from the RAC show that their patrols attended nearly 30,000 pothole-related breakdowns in 2023, up 33 per cent from 2022.
Research from the Liberal Democrats earlier in the year also uncovered the latest pothole statistics by local council, revealing some of the worst hit areas in the country.
Derbyshire was revealed to be one of the worst-affected areas, with over 90,500 potholes. Following this was Lancashire (67,439), Northumberland (51,703) and Surrey (43,191).
The research also uncovered the areas where potholes take the longest time to fix. The top three were Stoke-on-Trent (567 days), Westminster (556 days), and Norfolk (482 days).
Alongside the funding announcement, the DfT added that a quarter of the budget uplift will be held back from local authorities until they have “shown that they are delivering.”
Prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, said:” Broken roads can risk lives and cost families hundreds if not thousands of pounds on repairs. That’s a cost that can easily be avoided by investing properly in our roads.”
“Through our Plan for Change we’re determined to put more money back into the pockets of hardworking people and improve living standards. That’s why we’re giving councils funding to repair our roads and get Britain moving again – with a clear expectation that they get on with the job.”
The Local Government Association (LGA) welcomed the boost in funding, but said the government should reconsider the decision to hold back a quarter.
Cllr Adam Hug, transport spokesperson for the LGA said: “Councils already spend considerably more on maintaining their highways than what they receive from central government.
“Fully funding councils will enable them to far more effectively plan for and invest in preventative treatments which keep surfaces in better condition for longer and prevent potholes, which are more expensive to repair.”
