Investment needed in local roads

COMMENT FROM THE ASPHALT INDUSTRY ALLIANCE ON THE NEED TO INVEST IN THE LOCAL ROAD NETWORK

“Over £1 billion has been spent on chasing and filling potholes over the last decade* – what a waste. What’s needed is investment in effective road maintenance, which will improve the condition of our roads and help prevent potholes from forming in the first place.

“It’s promising that the new Government has recognised the need to ramp up spending on infrastructure in general, but this must include properly funding the maintenance of existing transport networks, such as our vital local roads, just as much as on headline grabbing new schemes.

“We’ve been calling for £1.5 billion extra per year for the next 10 years to bring local road conditions up to a level from which they can be maintained cost effectively going forward. This investment would be a really sensible allocation of part of the £100 billion five-year pot being pledged by Government and it would be really remiss if local roads, on which we all depend, were left out.”

*- based on findings of ALARM surveys 2010-2019

Rick Green, Chairman of the Asphalt Industry Alliance.