This latest allocation represents the second installment from the £2.5Bn Potholes Fund, announced by the Chancellor in the 2020 Budget and is part of wider funding for roads maintenance in England this coming financial year of £1.1Bn.

However the Asphalt Industry Alliance’s chair Rick Green said: “While cash strapped local authorities will no doubt welcome this year's allocation from the Pothole Fund, it is still a fraction of the amount that's needed and will not address deteriorating conditions and the rising bill to put it right.”

He added that potholes are a symptom of an “under appreciated and under funded network” and called for further sustained investment in effective road maintenance to keep essential services across the country moving as the country looks to recover from the pandemic.

Transport Minister Baroness Vere said the £500M of funding will help councils to “ensure roads in their area are kept up to standard, and that the potholes that blight road users can be dealt with promptly”.

Authorities in the South West will receive just over £90M, with the South East getting over £82M and the East of England around £68M. Councils in the North West will receive a combined total of over £66M, the East Midlands £57M, West Midlands £54M, Yorkshire & the Humber nearly £52M and the North East over £28M.

Sue Percy CBE, Chief Executive, CIHT said:

“Everyone depends on the UK’s network of local highways; they are at the heart of our communities and these arteries of our country need to be invested in to ensure fitness to compete in the global economy. Despite the efforts of central and local government, the LHN is not in a good state and not up to the job of supporting the country’s ambitions for the future.”

“CIHT has repeatedly called for the government to commit to deliver a four-point strategy for the Local Highway Network that will create a vision, funding and focus over the next ten years.”

“Our recommendations include the need to establish a new inflation-linked local highways fund (on top of the current funding); creation of an improved system of monitoring and a national condition database.”

“CIHT believe that through the recommendations we outlined in ‘Improving Local Highways’, we can show how the highway network will support the delivery of a carbon-neutral system, create sustainable, green, resilient, and accessible places, make transport healthier, and help the economy grow.”

The full report and supporting research is available here

(Photograph: Alastair Lloyd)