Following extensive lobbying of government Ministers and officials by the motorcycling, motoring and cycling lobbies over the last 18 months, the Government has today announced a £1.6 bn investment to tackle the scourge of potholes and poor road surfaces, together with an extra £500 million “roads pot” – enough to fill 7 million potholes a year. The funding will start to be delivered to local councils from next month . In addition, an extra £4.8 bn will be made available to National Highways to deliver critical road schemes for 2025/6 and to maintain motorways and major A-roads. But the full funding to local authorities comes with clear stipulations to ensure that the money is spent where it is required – on fixing pothole-ridden roads. In order to receive their full share of funding all councils in England must from today (Monday 24 March) publish annual progress reports and prove public confidence in their work. They must clearly show where they are spending the money, how much is being spent on fixing potholes and how many potholes have been filled and also provide a wider overview on the overall condition of their local roads. Local authorities who fail to meet these strict conditions will see 25% of their overall uplift (£125m in total) withheld.

Sufficient ring-fenced funding to deliver permanent repairs to road surfaces and potholes, underpinned by a clear reporting and inspection structure, were key recommendations set out by the Pothole Partnership manifesto as part of a five-point plan for the Government and Local Authorities to properly tackle the pothole issue, including investment in new technologies to deliver permanent fixes rather than temporary repairs.

Paul Morgan CBE, BMF’s Government Relations Executive said: ” The BMF and our key partner the National Motorcyclists Council (NMC) have been calling for action by the Government to tackle the scourge of potholes for some time, including through the Pothole Partnership formed in January 2024, which successfully brought together key representatives across road user organisations and the road repairs industry to tackle the pothole issue. The BMF also worked closely with the NMC to submit a detailed response last year to the Public Accounts Committee, following their “Call For Evidence” regarding the state of local roads in England, in which we called on Ministers to put in place a sufficiently funded programme of repair work, underpinned by annual reporting and detailed inspection standards, to ensure that the pothole problem was properly addressed with permanent repairs to the road network delivered in a timely fashion.

Potholes and poor road surfaces present a specific risk to motorcyclists and other vulnerable road users which, if not addressed, can unfortunately lead to serious injury or worse. We are pleased that the Government has listened to our concerns and is now taking firm action to address the pothole problem. We also welcome the fact that full government funding to councils will only be allocated once detailed progress reports and public satisfaction criteria are met so as to ensure that the money allocated to tackling potholes is used exclusively and effectively for that purpose. Additionally, the BMF wants to see Local Authorities focus on the quality of the pothole repairs they carry out, to deliver permanent repairs and move away from the wasteful and ineffective “patch and dash” approach we have often seen in recent years. The BMF will be closely monitoring progress on this important initiative with our partners across government and across the wider motorcycling sector in the months ahead”

You can access full details of today’s government announcement via the following link here

Additionally, the BMF continues to encourage motorcyclists to report details of any potholes in their area directly to their local council via the dedicated gov.uk pothole reporting link here

Previous related bmf news articles

1. Jan 2024 – click here
2. Jan 2024 – click here
3. Jan 2025 – click here

Top image courtesy of Matt Hoffman – Unsplash