Councils ‘need £10bn’ for pothole repairs

COUNCILS are still miles behind with road repairs despite filling in 1.7 million potholes last year.

It will take English councils 11 years to clear the road maintenance backlog, while Welsh councils will take 17 years, a report from the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) said.

With the average cost of filling in potholes ranging from £35 in Wales to £55 in England, around £90m was spent on pothole work last year.

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Councils in England and Wales have, in total, an annual road maintenance funding shortfall of nearly £800m, with the average for each English council being £5.3m.

The AIA report also showed that damage caused by the harsh winter of 2010/11 cost £600m, with two-thirds of councils unable to make good this damage.

The AIA said the additional Government funding of £200m to help councils, although welcome, “has proven woefully inadequate”.

Overall, the AIA said the estimated “one-off” cost to get roads back into reasonable condition was nearly £10bn.

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