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By Ben Webster
- Transport Correspondent
THE number of potholes on Britain's roads has doubled in the past ten years
because of a lack of investment in maintenance, a survey has found.
Councils receive only one third of the funds they need to maintain roads, with
the shortfall rising this year to £1.3 billion, the annual local authority
maintenance survey published today says. Councils are paying £1 million a week
for accidents and damage to cars caused by holes in the road. Potholes and
serious cracks have increased by 82 per cent since 1991.
Although the Government raised £35 billion last year in motoring taxes, local
authorities expect to receive only £600 million for road repairs this year. One
third of the money will be spent on patching roads. Engineers say that emergency
repairs are ten times more expensive than a proper program of road maintenance.
Local roads, which form 95 per cent of Britain's 230,000 mile network, are
resurfaced on average only once every 87 years. There are huge regional
disparities. London's roads receive a new coating every 33 years, but the rest
of England has to wait 113 years. The figures for Wales and Scotland are 40
years and 81 years respectively.
The RAC foundation said that funds were becoming available far too slowly.
Bernard Jenkin, Shadow Transport Minister said: "We all knew that Britain's
roads were grinding to a halt under Labour, but now it seems that they are
cracking up too."
Article Source: The Times, 17 December 1998
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