Chester East Council filled 4,500 potholes last week

Councillor Mark Goldsmith, chair of Cheshire East Council’s Highways and Transport committee, has responded to the Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance Survey Report and the fight to keep roads running for road users.

Councillor Goldsmith said:

“It’s clear our roads have taken a hammering this winter. The prolonged icy weather has caused a huge number of potholes to appear very quickly. Last week, we filled 4,500 potholes to keep our roads safe and we expect to fill 60,000 this year. That compares to 37,000 last year. 

“However, this growing number just highlights how our roads are failing. Pothole repairs may keep roads safe, but they are only a short-term fix. We need a long-term solution and that means spending more money on resurfacing them. But this needs a level of investment that councils cannot afford, even though it would save money over the long-term. 

“For decades, successive governments have passed less than 4p in every £1 paid by motorists in road taxes onto councils to maintain them. It’s been far too little, for far too long and now it shows. 

“The scale of this national problem was identified in the latest Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey that was published this week. It said there are almost £17bn worth of potholes across the UK. This is more than 10 times the annual amount government gives local councils for road maintenance. Current levels of funding are just not enough. The 2,100 miles of motorway that the Government maintains gets a similar level of funding as the 250,000 miles of local roads councils look after. 

“Too much tax has been diverted away from local roads, and it is unrealistic and unfair for council tax to be expected to replace it. Therefore, the new government needs to urgently commit to funding a national investment programme to resurface our local roads.”