£1.6bn earmarked for pothole repairs

A fifth (21%) of insurance claims where a vehicle hit a pothole leads to the vehicle being declared an insurance write-off, according to data from Allianz. The insurer has paid out more than £4.6 million for 1,266 pothole claims since the start of last year.

The Government says the increase of nearly 50% on local road maintenance funding from 2024 is enough to fix over seven million extra potholes in 2025/26. Transport secretary Heidi Alexander said: “Potholes have plagued motorists for far too long, but this investment will start to reverse a decade of decline on our country’s roads. Potholes damage cars and make pedestrians and cyclists less safe.”

Local authority allocations of the £1.6bn include: £327m for local authorities in North West, North East and Yorkshire and Humber; £372m for local authorities in East Midlands and West Midlands; £244m for local authorities in the East of England; £378m for local authorities in South East and London and £300 million for local authorities in the South West.

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “This is the biggest one-off road maintenance funding settlement councils in England have ever been given, so we have high hopes it’s the turning point that ends the degradation of our roads and finally delivers fit-for-purpose, smooth surfaces for drivers and all other road users.

“What’s particularly positive is that this announcement is not just about giving councils money to fix dangerous potholes, it comes with the important caveat of using the money wisely by carrying out preventative maintenance to stop more potholes appearing in the future.

“It’s also good to see the Government proactively encouraging drivers to report potholes, requiring councils to collect the right data to capture the true state of their road networks and incentivising authorities that use the money to good effect.”

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