Roads: The state we're in
With government borrowing at an all time high, it is very unlikely that there will be increased funding for local authorities to tackle 'pothole Britain' any time soon. Paul Fleetham, executive director of Tarmac National Contracting says that we must spend what we have wisely.
The publication of today's Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance Survey (ALARM) once more serves up a bleak prognosis for the future maintenance of UK roads. Despite some increases in road maintenance budgets from central government, the backlog of road repairs in England now stands at 13 years - an increase of two years since April 2008. The shortfall in funding to tackle UK structural road repairs hovers at the £861 million mark.
The road network is the lifeblood of our economy and central to its ultimate recovery. Failure to invest in tackling the maintenance backlog now means that any future uplift will be significantly hampered by a deteriorating asset which prevents people, goods and vital services from moving around.
Planned road maintenance could play a part in kick-starting economic recovery and would provide significant employment opportunities. It is important to remember that around 95 per cent of the raw materials required for road maintenance are produced in the UK.
A deteriorating road network also has financial consequences for the public and local authorities alike. Compensation claims from road users affected by potholes are on the rise, and, ultimately, it is the British tax payer who will foot the bill. The findings of the ALARM survey show that where less money is provided to local authorities to maintain our roads, there is a dramatic increase in the number of road user claims. In Wales, this situation is most acute and £10 million has been paid out in claims in the last 12 months by Welsh local authorities, but the road budget allocation they received was well below half of the funding required.
In an ideal world, local authorities would focus on planned, not reactive maintenance. While reactivity is generally inefficient and does not deliver the best use of money, the volume of potholes makes it inevitable. The consensus across local authorities and our industry is that reactive works should constitute around 10 per cent of local authority budget. The unfortunate reality is very different - it comes to 27 per cent.
Where do we go from here? Of course, local authorities need more money, but in the current economic climate with government borrowing hitting the £175 billion mark, we need to be realistic about our chances of receiving significant increases in future funding. Therefore, if investment is not forthcoming, it is vital that we spend what we have wisely.
How do we do this? Firstly, better partnership working between the private sector and local authorities is now critical. Contractors need to help local authorities develop robust asset management plans and effective cost models which can help them to maximise spend, and plan works effectively over the long-term. Long-term partnering is not a 'silver bullet' which can magically shrink the maintenance backlog to nothing, but it can ensure that expertise is shared and budgets maximised effectively - making the best of an unsatisfactory, but unavoidable situation.
Secondly, it is important that local authorities continue to embrace the latest surfacing technology, which will deliver long-term performance. A 'make do and mend' approach is all well and good as a short-term measure, but it does not provide long-term durability and ultimately only serves to add to the maintenance backlog plaguing our roads.
The state of UK roads has reached a critical point and, without positive action, the future could be very bleak. We must remember that this situation is not the problem of local authorities alone. It is now vitally important that the private and public sectors pull together to share expertise, spend wisely and make full use of the road budgets available.
1 May 2009
