MPs slam government over roads maintenance

A committee of MPs has criticised the Department for Transport’s (DfT) ‘piecemeal and stop-go’ approach to funding for road maintenance in England, which it says “has made it difficult for highways authorities to deliver maintenance cost-effectively.”

In its recent report on maintaining strategic road infrastructure, the House of Commons public accounts committee, whose role is to ensure taxpayers are receiving value for money on government spending, said road maintenance was too often reactive – for example in response to flooding or other events.

A renewed focus on preventative maintenance would prove less expensive in the long-term, the committee added.

Committee chair Margaret Hodge said: “Public satisfaction with the condition of our roads is at the lowest level since the surveying of this began in 2008. In the last survey only 30 per cent of the public were satisfied with the condition of the roads and the speed and quality of repairs. The greatest problems are in London and the South East, according to the Department for Transport.”

She said that the DfT’s “unpredictable and fluctuating” road maintenance budgets have put the taxpayer’s value for money “at risk”.

“It seems ludicrous that in 2010 the Department cut road maintenance budgets by £1.2 billion over the four years from April 2011, but then it has intermittently given £1.1 billion additional funding on nine separate occasions for various reasons, including in response to flooding or winter damage to the roads,” said Hodge.

“The Department must see that prevention is better than cure. It costs £52 to fill in a pothole, or £70 in London, yet it costs over £30 million to pay and process compensation claims from road users for damages arising from poor road conditions.”

She continued: “Routine maintenance is essential to deal with increasingly frequent severe weather and to prevent long-term damage to infrastructure, but a fall in the proportion of revenue funding to capital funding risks a reduction in this type of maintenance.

“A good understanding of the state of the roads is absolutely essential for planning cost-effective preventative maintenance.

“Yet, there are too many gaps in highways authorities’ information about what road infrastructure assets they have and what condition they are in. The Highways Agency holds no information on 70 per cent of its drainage systems, for example.”