A recent report from the House of Commons’ Public Accounts Committee contains recommendations for the Department for Transport (DfT) to address the pothole crisis facing our country once and for all and has been welcomed by the civil engineering industry.
Paul Thompson, technical specification manager at leading civils and ironwork provider, Wrekin Products, has welcomed the report’s recommendations stating a larger onus needs to be placed on funding long term, preventative solutions over band-aid reactions to the UK’s pothole problem.
While seven million more potholes are set to be repaired this year through £1.6 billion in funding, Paul argues no amount of money will fix the underlying issue if only its symptoms are treated.
Paul said: “Potholes are more than a surface issue. Unfortunately, the approach we’ve seen local authorities taking to address the nationwide pothole crisis oftentimes seems to treat them as just that — surface-level.
“The result of this approach is a worsening problem with public expenditure being spent on providing little to no help in combatting the root cause of the issue. Additionally, road users are helping to foot the bill, which leads to heightened scrutiny. Recent AA figures show the overall UK repair bill for affected cars in 2024 rose from £474m the year before to £579m – the highest on record.
“One error that is leading to this, as the report discusses, is the Department for Transport’s annual funding arrangements to local authorities not being based on the needs and requirements of the reality of each area’s roads. Currently, funding is provided based on road length and number of bridges, with as many as twelve funding pots over the last decade confusingly being made available, and each increasingly focussing on repairs rather than maintenance and improvement.
“At some point we have crossed the threshold from developing our roadway infrastructure to forestalling a collapsing one. Unfortunately, this shift of focus from improvements to repairs that is prevailing in local authorities, and caused by extraneous factors, is costing the country, and the everyday person, more in the long run.
“More and more we’re seeing local authorities aware of this issue and their approach, but unable to take the necessary steps to change it. We believe the true issue boils down to a miscommunication between the DfT and local authorities, and we agree with the report’s recommendations. We want to see the DfT change and increase its support to the maintenance of roads through more thorough and accurate data collection and provide updated guidance and best practice.
“Working with local authorities for many years, we’re fully aware of the power that correctly installed high quality materials can have on the likelihood of potholes forming. Issues tend to arise when weaknesses exist in the road surface, potentially due to surfacing joints, remedial works, or the use of poor-quality materials. Addressing these weaknesses stops the cycle before it can begin.
“For example, we’ve had our ironwork beneath Piccadilly Circus, one of the busiest roads in the world, for more than 15 years without issues arising due to its incredibly high-quality design and manufacturing.
“Though the initial cost of measures like this are higher than patchwork repairs, soon enough the expenses from further repairs, disruption to roads while carrying them out, and damage to vehicles from untreated potholes makes the potential savings for local authorities and their residents alike astronomical.”
To learn more about Wrekin’s quality solution offering, please visit: www.wrekinproducts.com
Image – Wrekin Products