Government unclear on where taxpayer money to fix potholes has gone
The condition of England’s local roads has been branded “a national embarrassment” amid confusion over how councils are spending taxpayer money on maintenance and fixing potholes.
A damning report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) called out the Department for Transport (DFT) for not taking its responsibilities and use of public funds on local roads “sufficiently seriously.”
It found billions of pounds each year is going to councils, but given the money is not ring-fenced, ministers have no idea how it is being spent.
The PAC also concluded there is a lack of data covering the condition of local roads, while there is suspicion local authorities may be doing “just enough” maintenance work to keep routes from being rated red, the category used when repairs are required.
Funding is “not being targeted at where it is most needed,” it warned, adding the DfT did not take into account traffic volumes, underlying road condition or local environmental conditions when allocating money.
The total cost of fixing local roads across England is estimated to have grown to over £15bn, while industry estimates have repeatedly shown conditions are getting worse and damage to vehicles from potholes is increasing.
“The declining state of England’s local roads is a national embarrassment,” Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, chair of the committee, said.
“As well as harming the prospects for our economy and communities’ own social wellbeing, highways riddled with potholes pose an increasing safety threat to road users.
“Alarmingly, however, not only is the state of our local roads on the downslope, our inquiry shows government are having to find out about these issues from industry bodies and road users themselves due to their own patchy data.”
The report comes after data on Wednesday revealed that the total cost of repairing vehicles damaged by potholes reached a record high last year. Breakdown specialists AA said they had spent £579m fixing vehicles which had broken down because of poor road surfaces in 2024.
“The poor state of our roads is the number one transport concern for 96 per cent of drivers,” Edmund King, AA president, said.
“We have highlighted the need for longer-term, ring-fenced investment using innovation and technology to permanently repair local roads rather than the short-term patchwork approach.”
A DfT spokesperson said: “For far too long our roads have been left to crumble, and this PAC report has laid bare the result of the decades of decline we have inherited in our road infrastructure.
“That’s why we’re investing a record £1.6bn for the coming year to help local authorities fix up to seven million more potholes.
“Road users are rightly frustrated by patchwork repairs, so we are also committed to multi-year funding settlements to enable councils to better maintain their road networks and avoid potholes forming in the first place.”