Vital road maintenance falls by almost a half

Transport firms that have suffered damage to their vehicles from badly maintained roads will be alarmed to hear that road maintenance by councils across England has fallen by almost half (45%) in 2022/23 compared to five years ago.

Analysis of Government statistics by the RAC shows that the fall resulted in 3,366 fewer miles receiving any kind of improvement work in the last financial year. The figures reveal that 764 miles of A roads were strengthened, resurfaced or preserved, a 37% decrease (458 miles) from 1,222 in 2017/2018.

Furthermore, with fleets regularly having to deal with pothole-related damage to vans and trucks, just 4% of the 17,853 miles of A roads maintained by councils in England were resurfaced or given life-extending preservation treatment in 2022/23.

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said:

These figures lay bare just how little resurfacing and life-extending preservation work councils have managed to carry out in the last financial year. We suspect this means road maintenance in England has reached a new low point – a sorry state of affairs considering how car-dependent the country is. It’s especially concerning to see that so few miles of A roads received any form of road maintenance last year when these important routes are used by millions of drivers every day. Meanwhile, our minor roads that are essential in connecting rural areas have received barely a crumb of the pie.

Regionally, more than a third (35%) of the 158 roads authorities in the latest data failed to carry out any road surfacing while six-in-10 (61%) did no preservation maintenance work at all.

Over the past 12 months, the average length of roads resurfaced for all authorities was just 17 miles and 28 miles for preservation work.

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