A Government report has criticised the Department for Transport (DfT) for a lack of understanding of the condition of local roads. The report, by the National Audit Office, recognised that the DfT has kept up annual funding to local authorities for the maintenance of local roads, but pointed out that that the £1.1 billion provided to Councils in 2022-23 was £1 billion short of the £2.1 billion actually spent. Local authorities, already strapped for cash, made up the difference.

DfT data suggests that up to 67% of local roads are in “good structural condition”, but figures from an Asphalt Industry Alliance survey (cited in the NAO report), put that at just under half (48%). The NAO report states: “At present, DfT does not have a good enough understanding of the condition of local roads and does not use the limited data it does have to allocate its funding as effectively as possible…Given the fiscal constraints, it is essential that DfT secures maximum value from the funding it has available.”

Jim Freeman, chair of the BMF was clear that a change in DfT practices was the answer: “As a taxpaying road user I’m not surprised, the results are there for all to see. Personally, I’d guess that the reason the DfT doesn’t have the data or use what it does have effectively is ‘ we don’t want to know and we can’t do anything about it anyway, we don’t have the cash’. Let’s hope that the new brooms at the DfT knock some heads together.”

Written by Peter Henshaw

Top image courtesy of Kasman – Pixabay