Spending on local highways and transport services in England will fall by over 10% this year, as austerity measures continue to bite.

 

Councils across the country will have a total of £521M less to spend on highways and transport, down from £4.9Bn last year to £4.4Bn this year, according to figures released on Thursday by the Department for Communities & Local Government.

 

Responding to the news the Road Surface Treatments Association’s chief executive Howard Robinson warned that councils may be forced to raid road maintenance budgets in order to support current levels of support for public transport operators.

 

“Given the poor state of many of our local roads this is of concern,” he said. “The cuts to the highways and transportation budgets show that Government fails to understand that good and efficient transportation is essential for both the social and economic wellbeing of the country.”

 

Highways consultant Roger Elphick OBE added: “This latest cut is clearly going to have a significant impact on local transport services, bearing in mind previous cuts and the fact that local authorities have little capacity for supplementing budgets for maintaining highway assets. Maintenance funding needs protecting, if necessary by reducing funding for new works.”

 

Campaign for Better Transport's head of campaigns James MacColl said: “These alarming figures show how local transport is suffering as a result of budget cuts. Our research shows that 2400 bus services have been reduced, altered or withdrawn since 2010, leaving many people in isolated areas cut off from their communities and local amenities. These figures show that this is going to get even worse.”