The government is clamping down to ensure that every pound goes straight into tackling potholes across England, and not elsewhere. Councils will now face tougher rules to prove they are using taxpayers’ money to re-surface roads and fix potholes, or they risk losing up to a third of next year’s funding.
The new requirements came into place on Tuesday 14 April, with red-rated councils receiving funding to improve performance and create safer roads. Local highway authorities that fail to prove that they are maintaining road standards could lose around a third of their £1.6 billion funding for the next year.
By ensuring that councils fix roads properly, the government is hoping to ease the financial burden on drivers, with pothole damage costing an average of £500 per vehicle in avoidable repairs. The changes will ensure that the government’s investment in local roads is utilised as intended, with the risk of £525 million being held back from councils across England unless they are transparent and perform to expectations.
As part of this transparency, councils must publish reports to prove that they are spending all of their allocated funding solely on road maintenance, and show long-term plans for preserving road quality and improved training for their highway teams.
This follows the government’s first-of-a-kind red, amber or green ratings to grade 154 local highway authorities (LHA) based on their current road conditions and how effectively they are spending government funding.