Written evidence submitted by Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) (LRE0009)
Executive summary
Our local roads are in crisis. This year’s Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey report highlighted that less than half of local roads across England are in a good structural condition and the cost of tackling the backlog[1] of repairs is now a record £14.4 billion.
Detailed analysis of ALARM survey reports over the last decade shows that the stop start approach to funding and below inflation budget allocations have contributed to declining road conditions.
Poor road conditions impact all users, causing damage to vehicles, accidents and injury to vulnerable road users such as cyclists, and are less energy-efficient resulting in increased vehicle carbon emissions. Drivers make substantial contributions to the Treasury and therefore towards the funding of our road network via Vehicle Excise Duty, Fuel Duty and VAT on fuel however, local highway maintenance budgets have seen real-terms cuts. It is not unreasonable to suggest therefore that they are seeing a decline in value for money.
Local authority highway teams are faced with a thankless task: they have a legal responsibility to keep our roads safe yet haven’t had the funds to do so in a cost effective, proactive and sustainable way. Only a proportion of the road maintenance needed can be done each year with the funding provided. Repeatedly filling potholes is bad value for money and indicative of a network on the edge and is less efficient when it comes to materials usage and carbon emissions than planned preventative maintenance which enhances network resilience.
That’s why the AIA has called for adequate, sustained, ringfenced funding for local roads – provided on both a needs and improvement basis – over the long term. This will allow local authorities to plan and proactively carry out the right maintenance intervention at the right time to the greatest benefit of all road users, rather than just having enough money to address immediate and urgent repairs.
Placing improving local road conditions at the heart of the new Government’s transport policy will not only ensure better value for money for the public funds allocated, it will also ensure we have local road network that is safe, keeps people connected and supports economic growth while cutting carbon emissions.
1 Local Roads overview
1.1 The road network in England is maintained by National Highways (NH), which is responsible for the strategic road network (SRN), Transport for London (TfL) and Local Authorities (LA).
1.2 Local Authority roads represent 97% of road lengths in miles and are classified as:
- Principal roads: These are major ‘A roads’ providing large-scale transport links within or between areas.
- Non-principal roads: LA maintained ‘B’ and ‘C’ roads which feed traffic between A roads and smaller roads on the network[2].
- Unclassified roads: Minor roads for local traffic. Around 60% of roads fall within this category.
1.3 Under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 the highway authority has a statutory duty to maintain the highway. Highways maintenance covers:
- Routine maintenance (treating ice and snow, clearing drains, cleaning and replacing signs etc).
- Road renewals (including new road surfaces and works such as footways, cycle tracks, safety fences and drains).
- Structures renewals (such as the repair and rebuilding of bridges and underpasses, tunnels and gantries.)
- Construction of new roads where required.
1.4 Funding for local roads maintenance comes from central government plus other LA income funding streams, including prudential borrowing, use of capital reserves and monies collected through parking fines and other fees.
1.5 The Public Accounts Committee’s 2014 report on roads concluded that a stop-go approach to funding from the Government for road maintenance in recent decades was making it difficult for highway authorities to maintain roads cost-effectively. It identified that there had been too much reactive work in response to flooding and other events, and not enough focus on preventative work that is less expensive in the long-term.
2 About the Asphalt Industry Alliance and why it is well placed to provide substantiated evidence to this inquiry
2.1 The Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) is a partnership between the Mineral Products Association (MPA) and Eurobitume. Drawing on the knowledge and expertise of both organisations, the AIA works to increase awareness of the asphalt industry and promote the uses and benefits of asphalt to specifiers, policymakers and the general public.
2.2 AIA activity includes supporting local authorities in adopting lower carbon approaches to highway maintenance, organising events to share best practice and to promote the uptake of low carbon innovation plus supporting the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Better Roads (yet to reform following the recent General Election).
2.3 It also produces the Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey report. Now in its 29th consecutive year, ALARM data comes from submissions received from those directly responsible for local road maintenance. It provides an effective snapshot of local road conditions each year as well as allowing for the tracking of trends over time.
2.4 ALARM predominately covers the maintenance of the carriageway itself, i.e. the road surface and structure, but also covers the type of maintenance carried out and the issues affecting maintenance service levels. ALARM also covers the sources and levels of funding local authorities draw upon for highway maintenance activity as well as the take-up of lower carbon technologies.
2.5 Individual submissions remain confidential with findings extrapolated to represent the 115 LAs in England without a PFI arrangement, as well as 32 local authorities in London and 22 in Wales.
2.6 The report’s results are analysed and verified by registered member of the Royal Statistical Society and are supported by qualitative research, including focus groups, to provide context to the survey’s quantitative findings.
2.7 The overall response rate for the annual survey is consistently above 70%. This year’s response rate for English councils (excluding London) was 77%.
2.8 ALARM’s annual findings provide a robust, authoritative and ongoing source of data relating to the state of roads managed by LAs, as well as providing valuable insight on the correlation between road condition and funding levels. It is viewed as a credible source of information, with bodies including Department for Transport (DfT), the National Audit Office (NAO), the Local Government Association and RAC referring to its findings.
2.9 ALARM figures referred to in this submission refer solely to English LAs, excluding London and Wales, unless stated otherwise.
3 What ALARM 2024 and previous ALARM reports tell us about whether the taxpayer is getting value for money from the funding allocated to England’s local roads
3.1 DfT states that the local road network in England has a total asset value of £400 billion. With ALARM 2024 reporting that LAs’ highways maintenance budgets averaged £34.5 million, it means that £3.97 billion was spent on maintaining the asset in England in 2023/24. This is less than 1% of the asset value.
3. 2 LAs reported that central government funding comes principally from the DfT with the remainder from the former Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Environment Agency grants and regional and mayoral areas growth funding.
In ALARM 2024 LAs reported that 56% of their funding came from central government sources. This level has fluctuated over the seven years in which the ALARM survey has collected this data:
Figure1: Funding streams - diagram showing the percentage of local authority highway maintenance budgets coming from central government sources between 2018-2024. Source: ALARM survey reports England only data 2018-2024.
3.3 In September 2024 the DfT set out its contributions for local highway maintenance over the past 10 years in its Evidence Review: Economic Appraisal for Investing in Local Highways Maintenance (uplifted to 2023 values using the CPI annual rate).
Figure 2: DfT contributions to highway maintenance. Source: Evidence Review: Economic Appraisal for Investing in Local Highways Maintenance September 2024.
The reported trends demonstrate that the DfT’s inconsistent approach to funding identified by the Committee’s 2014 report continues. It also highlights a substantive decline in DfT maintenance funding in real terms, particularly since 2020/21.
Whatever the levels of DfT funding, local authorities’ statutory responsibility remains to maintain their networks to set standards. We know from qualitative feedback that given static or declining budgetary support from DfT, local highway teams have sought alternative sources of funding – including from their own reserves and /or by the capitalisation of revenue budgets.
3.4 ALARM data collected over the last decade also reflects LA feedback about this increasing expectation to ‘do more with less’ and the long-term implications of this on road conditions, especially given the network’s age.
3. 5 LAs’ declining highway maintenance budgets is also borne out by ALARM data analysis (see Fig 3 below). Overall highway maintenance budgets from all funding streams fell short of inflation in six of the last 11 years.
Figure 3: Total highway maintenance budgets and equivalent amount if inflation accounted for. Source: ALARM survey reports ALARM England only data 2014 – 2024.
3.6 Below inflation budgetary allocations diminishes what can be delivered in real terms with knock on implications for effective carriageway asset management. LAs told us that it leads to declining resilience across their networks, as well as increased reliance on more costly reactive maintenance (see 3.19 and 3.22 below). It also leads to widening budget shortfalls, as analysis of ALARM data 2015-2024 shows:
Figure 4: Chart showing shortfall in annual highway carriageway maintenance carriageway budgets between 2015-2024. Source: ALARM survey reports 2015 – 2024.
The shortfall in annual highway maintenance carriageway budgets is the difference between the amount LAs received in any financial year and the amount reported they needed to keep their networks in reasonable order and prevent any further deterioration in conditions. In 2015 this was reported as £3.7m per authority but, by 2024, had more than doubled to £7.5m per English authority – far outstripping inflation for the period.
3. 7 Against a backdrop of insufficient funding over the long term, ALARM data illustrates that there has been no overall improvement in structural road conditions in the last decade (see Figure 5 below).
Figure 5. Structural road conditions* between 2015-2024. Source ALARM survey reports ALARM England only data 2015 – 2024.
*As set out in the AIA’s submission to the Transport Select Committee’s 2018 inquiry, structural road conditions data scrutinises the state of the carriageway and the integrity of the structure that underpins it. Some automated means of assessing carriageways assume that good surface condition equates to a sound structural condition without considering damage to the underlying layers, an approach which can lead to an overly positive estimation of the condition of the network. In contrast, structural road condition data provides a realistic indication of the network’s level of resilience.
In 2015, 48% of the network was classified as being in a ‘GOOD’ structural state, (having 15 years or more of structural life remaining) the same share of the network reported in 2024.
Over the same period ALARM data also highlights that 3% more of the road network is now classified as being in a ‘POOR’ condition (less than 5 year’s life remaining). This is the equivalent of around 5,200 miles of road being in a worst condition than 10 years ago.
LAs have reported a rising wave of roads passed as ‘ADEQUATE’ in recent years (roads marked as having 5-15 years of life remaining) since 2020, which mirrors the decline in DfT funding over the same timeframe.
3.18 Since 2018 ALARM has also collected Road Condition Index (RCI) data.
LAs can adjust the precise definitions of their RCI categories to reflect the individual nature of their local networks. However, in general, GREEN defines lengths where the carriageway is in a good state of repair, AMBER is for lengths where some deterioration is apparent which should be investigated to determine the optimum time for planned maintenance and RED for lengths of carriageway in poor overall condition, likely to require planned maintenance within a year or so (see Fig 5 note above re structural conditions being a better indicator of overall network resilience).
Comparing RCI data for ALARM 2018 with ALARM 2024 it is clear that the percentage of the network classified as GREEN fell in all categories of local road. For example, in 2018, 73% of principal roads were classified as being GREEN, but in ALARM 2024 the level reported had dropped to 68%. This is the equivalent of 8,600 miles of principal roads no longer being classified as being in a GOOD/GREEN state of repair.
Similarly, there has been a marked increase in the percentage of the network classified as AMBER – with around 10,200 more miles of road (across all road classifications) now in this category than a decade ago. This reflects the trends highlighted regarding structural road conditions set out above.
Figure 6 (below) shows the change in overall network conditions between 2018 and 2024 – illustrating both the decline in the roads marked as GREEN and (as stated above) the rising wave of AMBER.
Figure 6: Road Condition Index (RCI) performance in England as a percentage of the network (average across all classes of road). Source ALARM 2018 and ALARM 2024.
Comparing ALARM data between 2018-2024, it is evident that, of the nine RCI data sub-sections (three classes of condition across three different road classifications) it is only in the RED classification for non-principal and unclassified roads that any improvements have been made. However, this equates to just 0.9% of the network that was classified as RED in 2018, no longer being classified in this category in 2024.
For further information supporting these findings please see ALARM 2018 page 12 and Alarm 2024 page 13.
3. 9 As set out in ALARM, an asset management approach to highway maintenance means that 100% of the network will not be in 100% perfect condition 100% of the time. However, ALARM 2024 data highlights the gap between local authority RCI targets and the actual profile of the local road network.
Figure 7: Road Condition Index (RCI) target versus actual performance across all class of road. Source: ALARM England only data 2024.
ALARM 2024 reports that if LAs had sufficient funds to maintain their networks to their own target conditions there would have been an additional 23,535 miles of road in a better condition.
3.10 The conditions data set above paints a picture of a lost decade. However, ALARM data also highlights that structural road conditions did improve in the period 2015/16-2020/21 when incremental and additional streams of funding, including the Government’s Pothole Action Fund, were in place.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Better Roads report Working for Better Roads: A call for the re-instatement of targeted and accountable support for local road maintenance compared data from the ALARM survey over time. It concluded that the period covered by the Pothole Action Fund saw better performance than other years, with average road conditions improving from 2016 to 2021, but tailing off after 2021. The report concluded that the improvements made were due to long term certainty of funding enabling proactive maintenance, as well as stronger accountability to ensure funds were not diverted due to local authorities’ challenging financial circumstances.
3.11 What is clear from the latest ALARM findings is that the improvement in road conditions made during the period of incremental and targeted funding between 2016-2021 have since been lost.
Figure 8: Chart showing percentage of local road network in England in GOOD structural condition. Source: ALARM England only data 2016-2024
3.12 The impact of declining resilience in the local road network is borne out by the level of reactive maintenance: the better their condition, the less likely the need for unplanned repairs.
There will always be unforeseen circumstances, such as extreme weather, which necessitate reactive maintenance to keep roads safe and serviceable. LAs’ view on the percentage of the budget considered the ideal level increased over the last decade, with the actual percentage of the highway carriageway budget spent reactively tracking above this level – both indicating that the resilience of the network is increasingly stretched. (see Fig 9 below).
Figure 9: Reactive maintenance as a proportion of carriageway maintenance budgets ALARM England only data 2015-2024
3.13 Replacing the surface layer of roads at regular intervals maintains an appropriate level of grip, vital for road safety, and guards against water ingress and freeze-thaw effects by maintaining a weatherproof seal. The recommended frequency of road resurfacing is between 10 and 20 years, subject to the materials used, the type of road and the level/type of traffic.
ALARM data shows that in 2024, as in 2015, no category of road is resurfaced to recommended levels. This indicates that LAs continue to rely on interim and short-term fixes to extend the life of the asset.
Resurfacing rates for principal and non-principal roads have changed little over the last decade. However, for unclassified roads which make up over 60% of local roads, resurfacing rates have declined, highlighting how LA have to prioritise key routes to the detriment of unclassified roads as current budgets are insufficient to maintain the whole network.
Figure 10: Comparison of road resurfacing rates in 2015 and 2024. Source ALARM England only data 2015-2024.
3.14 Over the last decade over 16.3 million potholes have been filled in England at a combined cost of £960 million. It is important to note that the number of potholes filled should fall, not rise, when roads conditions improve.
Potholes are the symptom not the cause of an underfunded and deteriorating network. Repeatedly filling in potholes is also less efficient when it comes to materials usage and carbon emissions.
Figure 11: Number and costs of potholes filled. Source ALARM England only data 2015-2024 (see 3.2 for more on why the number of potholes filled fell significantly after 2015).
3.15 In conjunction with Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG), ALARM data has been collated on LAs’ route to net zero and the adoption of low carbon materials since 2023.
ALARM 2024 findings in this area show that 9 out of 10 local authorities in England and Wales have a net zero pledge – with more than half of these stating 2030 as their pledge date. However, only 11% reported that they have updated their highway asset management plan to include net zero principles and targets and only 6% have a target to reduce carbon from road surfacing materials.
The data shows an undoubted disconnect between policy ambitions and the reality of managing the highway asset on a limited budget with restricted funding horizons. Many LAs have added materials with longer life and recycled content to their specifications but take up remains low. For example, Warm Mix Asphalts (WMAs) are on the specification list at the majority of LAs in England – yet industry figures show that (in 2022) less than 10% of all asphalt manufactured across the UK is produced as warm mix. As set out in the 2018 APPG on Highways (subsequently renamed the APPG for Better Roads) report Working for better roads Warm Mix Asphalt: reducing carbon emissions and improving efficiencies WMAs can reduce the CO₂ associated with asphalt production.
4 Impact of road conditions on road users, the economy and on the environment
4.1 ALARM reports on road conditions, including the number of potholes that have been repaired annually. It does not collect data on the total number of potholes on the local road network, nor the impact of poor conditions on road users. However, in October 2024 the AA reported that pothole related call outs had increased by 10,000 on 2023 levels. It also pointed to a survey of more than 11,000 AA members carried out before the 2024 General Election that found that the top transport issue for 96% of drivers was ‘increased investment in repairing and upgrading the roads (i.e. fixing potholes).’
4.2 The impact of road conditions on road users’ safety is also evident. In 2022 UK Cycling stated that: “A recent survey of UK cyclists found that 21% have been involved in an accident because of a pothole, with 22% of those incidents resulting in a personal injury. The survey also found that 88% of cyclists had been forced into a dangerous manoeuvre by a pothole and that 63% had suffered damage to their bike because of one. Similarly, in September 2023, Road Safety GB reported that Road Angel had stated that potholes represented a severe risk to life.
4.3 ALARM 2024 reported that over £12m was paid in compensation claims, with 89% relating specifically to potholes on roads. Allianz recently announced that a fifth of insurance claims where a car hits a pothole leads to the vehicle being declared an insurance right off.
4.4 The most recent National Highways and Transport Network Satisfaction Survey report 2023 stated that the public’s satisfaction with highways maintenance had reached a low of 18%. (2024 report expected 14/11/24).
4.5 In April 2024 the Centre for Economics and Business Research reported that poor road conditions were costing £14.4 billion a year in economic damage in England alone. It also stated that poor road conditions were impacting driver behaviour with a detrimental effect on the environment. It calculated that emissions are about 0.5 tonnes of CO2 higher, because of drivers slowing down and speeding up to avoid potholes.
4.6 Well maintained, smoother roads reduce fuel consumption and cut vehicle tailpipe emissions (including carbon). Data from the European Asphalt Pavement Alliance (EAPA) demonstrates that smooth roads can reduce vehicle emissions by more than 5%.
5 Looking forward
5.1 The 2016 paper by Philipp Thiessen (DfT) and Tom Buckland and Richard Abbell (TRL, the Future of Transport), Valuing the wider benefits of road maintenance funding set out that ‘significant additional investment provides benefits in excess of costs of more than 4.5 times.’ More recently the DfT’s 2024 Economic appraisal for investing in local highway maintenance stated that: “funding for local road maintenance provides a good to very good return on investment with much lower risk than major projects to construct new infrastructure. For every £1 invested there is an absolute minimum return of £2.20, with analyses identifying typical returns of up to £9.10 at a national level.”
The report also acknowledged the importance of longer-term funding stating that “when looking at a 10-year horizon a £1 investment in road condition will yield between £4.2 and £5.7 in future cost saving expressed in present value terms”.
5.2 The NAO’s 2024 report on the Condition and maintenance of local roads in England concluded that better understanding of local road conditions would support the DfT in securing maximum value for its available funding. We believe that local authorities already have a good idea of the condition of their network. However, without adequate funding to make improvements, improved data alone will not markedly improve road conditions.
5.3 ALARM data makes it clear that approaches to highway maintenance funding over the last decade have not delivered value for money for taxpayers and further evidence highlights the detrimental impact of declining road conditions for road users.
The £8.3 billion investment allocated over 11 years announced last year as part of the previous Government’s Network North commitments would be an effective fund if allocated with a strong ringfence and full accountability. It would enable LAs to plan and proactively carry out the right maintenance at the right time rather than just having enough money to address immediate and urgent repairs. It would also support a lower carbon whole-life approach to the specification of materials, saving money and carbon emission over the long term. Clarity from the new government on whether this funding will continue is needed urgently.
5.4 It was encouraging to hear the Chancellor acknowledge the condition of our local roads is “a reminder of our failure to invest as a nation” in her recent Budget statement, however this was not matched with a long-term funding commitment.
The additional £500 million pledged for highway maintenance in England next year is welcome, but it falls a long way short of the commitment to a long-term funding horizon that the AIA and others in our sector have been calling for. While announcing funding for potholes may remain politically popular, announcing funding on a year-to-year basis, as demonstrated above, will not deliver the best value for money.
November 2024
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