TENS of millions of pounds would be needed to fix the thousands of potholes that have been allowed to build up on roads in the North East, according to a new survey.
Figures supplied by councils in the region show that there are more than 80,000 potholes on the 10,000 miles of road in the North East ... an increase of 29% on the year before.
Each council would need to spend nearly £40m to completely repair their roads, which would take an estimated 11 years at current levels of repair.
But according to figures compiled by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) as part of its Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (Alarm) survey, the financial blow is still to land.
The extra costs of potholes last year alone came to £1.5m per council and there is an annual shortfall per authority of £6.2m. The figures have led to calls for long-term Government funding for the problem while authorities say they are striving to find creative solutions.
The AIA said nationally £32m was paid out in compensation claims due to damage and injury last year – 50% more than in 2011 – and that the cost of council staff dealing with claims was £13m.
This year, local authorities in England are reporting a shortfall in their annual budgets for dealing with the issue of £829m.
AIA chairman Alan Mackenzie said: “Constantly having to patch up crumbling roads rather than using highway engineers’ skills properly, to ensure good road condition in a planned and cost- effective way, is nonsensical and costly to the country.
“The Department for Transport’s Potholes Review was a welcome initiative and concluded that prevention is better than cure.
“When you add up all the costs incurred by not following this advice, it’s hard to understand why central government cannot find a way to invest in this much-needed work and save on higher costs in the future.
“Emergency funding from government is welcome, but a little extra here and there makes very little difference.
“The additional £215m announced in the autumn to help improve local road condition over the next couple of years doesn’t even cover the £338m of damage repair needed as a result of last year’s rainfall.
“It’s time to stop the rot. The Government needs to make sufficient funding available now that will enable local authorities to get their roads back into a condition that will quickly and directly boost the economy, help businesses and improve local communities.”
Potholes have been a particular issue in rural Northumberland.
Hexham MP Guy Opperman even made a controversial call for the authority to get rid of its £175,000-a-year council chief executive to tackle the problem. A spokeswoman for Northumberland County Council said: “We are committed to making the funding available stretch as far as possible to maintain the whole of the county council’s highway network and assets, including bridges, footpath and drains.
“To do this in the most cost-effective way possible we are using new techniques, equipment and materials such as the jet patcher to repair potholes and new tarmac surfacing mixtures.
“We have ordered two new jet patcher machines and these will greatly increase our capacity to repair potholes in rural areas.”
Local Transport Minister Norman Baker said: “We are providing councils with more than £3bn between 2011 and 2015 to maintain their roads and pavements.
“In December 2012 we announced an extra £215m to help councils get the best out of their road network. This is on top of the additional £200m we gave to councils in March 2011 to repair local roads damaged by the severe weather in 2010.
“It is ultimately up to local highway authorities to determine how they prioritise their funding, but we want to help them get the best value for money.
“That is why we are funding the Highways Maintenance Efficiency Programme which helps councils work together to deliver a first-class service to residents, at the same time as saving money.”
