Roads maintenance backlog update

09 May 2007

Estimates that the decline in the condition of most of a county’s carriageways and footways would be reversed by spending significantly more than the funding provided by the Government have proved correct.
Hertfordshire County Council’s deterioration modelling exercise has shown that merely spending government revenue and capital allocations will be insufficient to tackle the backlog of repairs on B, C and unclassified roads and on footways. The finding further strengthens Surveyor’s campaign for a real-terms funding increase in the Comprehensive Spending Review this autumn.
Senior industry figures believe that, if authorities across the country produced robust estimates which current expenditure would fail to reverse the decline in country roads and footways, there would be a powerful case for extra investment. The Countryside Alliance and Living Streets are among organisations backing LocalGov.co.uk sister title Surveyor’s ‘Beat the Backlog’ campaign, fearing that, because overall funding continues at its current level – or receives a real-terms cut – inevitably, A roads will be prioritised.
Simon Hart, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, has called on the Government to provide ‘parity of service’ for rural road-users. He said this week: ‘Hertfordshire is to be commended for running this test and confirming what many people have long suspected – rural road maintenance is disgracefully under-funded by the Government. Matthew Lugg, chair of the County Surveyors’ Society engineering committee, welcomed ‘the pioneering asset management work’, and hoped councils across the country would assemble similar ‘robust cases for additional funding’. ‘This is not simply saying, “Give us more money”, this represents a sophisticated approach that clearly demonstrates the benefit of extra investment.’

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