23/05/2011
Councils could have to pay out more than £5 billion to repair potholes across England, Labour has claimed.
The revelation comes after a survey found councils were struggling to repair local roads because of cuts to their budgets.
North Yorkshire, Kent and Devon were found to have backlogs totalling more than £400 million, while 17 other local authorities had individual backlogs of more than £100 million.
Overall some 40% of 152 local authorities were found to have a backlog which adds up to £5.36 billion
Labour estimates that if the £5.36 billion bill is reflected across England, the total cost could come to £13.4 billion.
But nearly three-quarters of the councils which responded were found to be cutting their road maintenance budgets in real terms, the survey found.
Shadow roads minister John Woodcock said: "Instead of continually patching up knackered road surfaces with a bucket of tar we need a proper strategic plan for local roads which could save taxpayers' money a fortune in the long-term."
Responding to the claims, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said: "This Government understands what a problem potholes on our roads can be, that's why we are making available £3.2 billion over the next four years for road maintenance and we found an extra £200 million for councils to tackle the consequences of the extreme cold weather last winter."
Emma Sword
