Sir Keir Starmer has told local councils they must prove they are tackling potholes or face losing the cash to fix them.
Labour ministers “want to get our sleeves rolled up” and fix potholes for good, the prime minister said on Monday, as he announced an additional £4.8 billion of funding to carry out work on motorways and major A-roads.
His ultimatum to cash-strapped authorities comes as the number of potholes in the UK continues to grow. The backlog in repairs now sits at £17 billion, analysis from the The Local Government Association (LGA) has found.
Last year, data obtained by the Liberal Democrats revealed the worst-hit areas for potholes in the UK. The figures revealed that Derbyshire was the area with the most potholes, with a massive 90,596. Lancashire was second with 67,439, and Northumberland third with 51,703, as a map reveals the full scale of the issue on UK roads.
Local authorities will start to get their share of £1.6 billion in highway maintenance funding confirmed last year, up £500 million from the previous year, in mid-April.
But from Monday, they will be required to publish annual progress reports or face having funding withheld.
The prime minister said: “British people are bored of seeing their politicians aimlessly pointing at potholes with no real plan to fix them. That ends with us.
“We’ve done our part by handing councils the cash and certainty they need – now it’s up to them to get on with the job, put that money to use and prove they’re delivering for their communities.”
The reports will also have to detail what percentage of roads are in what condition, show what councils are spending on pothole prevention and outline plans looking ahead to wetter winters that make potholes worse.
Councillor Adam Hug, the LGA’s transport spokesperson, said: “Councils already spend more than they receive from central government on tackling potholes and repairing our roads.
“However, it’s in everyone’s interests to ensure that public money is well spent.
“This includes the Government playing its full part by using the Spending Review to ensure that councils receive sufficient, long-term funding certainty, so they can focus their efforts on much more cost-effective, preventative measures rather than reactively fixing potholes, which is more expensive.”
The Liberal Democrats said there is a huge challenge to fix the country’s roads and tackle the repair backlog. The party’s transport spokesperson Paul Kohler said: “We must ensure that the right amount of money is going where it is needed. The Government must empower our local councillors who are best placed to make decisions about what needs fixing in their communities.”
