Urgent action must be taken to put an end to long term under investment in local road maintenance, a group of asphalt suppliers and contractors has urged ahead of Philip Hammond’s first Autumn Statement.

 

The Asphalt Industry Alliance said on Saturday that the age of the network, increasing volume and weight of vehicles and the impact of wetter winters threatens the resilience of local roads.

 

“Ten years ago our ALARM survey warned against putting off the investment needed today until tomorrow,” said the alliance’s chairman Alan Mackenzie. “Local authority highways engineers told us then that it would take almost 11 years to get their roads back into a reasonable condition. This year they told us the backlog was 14 years.

 

“Unless action is taken we face the real prospect of a local road network that is not fit for purpose,” he concluded. The Autumn Statement is scheduled for later this month.

 

The Alliance’s comments came after Transport Minister Andrew Jones admitted that historic under investment had made it difficult for local authorities to carry out preventative – rather than reactive – maintenance.

 

Speaking at a transport asset management event in London on Friday, he said: “We are struggling to catch up with under investment in transport, including maintenance, which has dogged the sector for many years.

 

“How do you break out of firefighting to keep things as they are and get onto the front foot to deliver early interventions?” he questioned, noting the importance of predictable cashflow.

 

He pointed out that the Department for Transport plans to invest £6.1Bn in local highway maintenance over the next five years.

 

Meanwhile the latest Report on Motoring from the RAC revealed last week that more than half of business drivers would be willing to pay more motoring tax if the additional revenue was ring fenced to improve roads. This marks a leap from last year’s figure of 42%.

 

Furthermore 14% of respondents ranked maintenance of local roads as their number one motoring concern, making this the most popular choice just above mobile phone use while at the wheel.

 

(Photo: Alastair Lloyd)