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LGA responds to AA poll of drivers on the condition of roads

“Only long-term and consistent investment in local road maintenance can allow councils to embark on the widespread improvement of our roads that is desperately needed, to the benefit of all road users up and down the country."

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Responding to a poll of drivers by the AA on the condition of roads, Cllr Martin Tett, the Local Government Association’s Transport spokesman, said: 

“Only long-term and consistent investment in local road maintenance can allow councils to embark on the widespread improvement of our roads that is desperately needed, to the benefit of all road users up and down the country.

“It is therefore wrong that funding for local roads is miles behind that of the strategic road network.

“Very few journeys begin and end on a motorway or trunk road yet government funding on the strategic road network is 52 times higher than for local roads. Spending more on improving our national roads will only serve to speed vehicles up between increased delays and congestion on local roads.

“Councils are fixing a pothole every 19 seconds despite funding pressures. They want to do more but are trapped in an endless cycle of patching up our deteriorating network. It would already take £12 billion and more than a decade for councils to clear the current local roads repair backlog.

“The LGA has been calling on the Government to reinvest 2 pence per litre of existing fuel duty into local road maintenance and are encouraged that the AA is now backing our call for action.”

Notes

  1. In 2000, there were 24.2 million licensed cars in Great Britain, compared to 31.1 million in 2017, a rise of 6.9 million. Last year the LGA published a report – ‘A country in a jam: tackling congestion in our towns and cities’ – which revealed the extent of the country’s congestion crisis.
  2. Local roads, including A roads, that are maintained by councils cover 184,108 miles compared to just 4433 miles on the Strategic Road Network (STN), which covers motorways
  3. The Government will invest £21,606.83 per mile, compared to £1,123,382.60 per mile for maintenance of the strategic roads network (STN) over the five year period to 2020