The South Circular has really gone downhill recently

It seems that the explanation for why our motorcycles and cars are being subjected to journeys of a thousand potholes, is simply, as one might have guessed, the serious lack of investment in repairing and maintaining our roads.

The RAC has analysed new government data and found that only 4,894 miles of all types of road were resurfaced, strengthened or improved in 2023/2024. This may sound like a lot until you realise that there are 183,054 miles of road which need maintaining. Last year's figures represent an increase in road maintenance of 18% in the council-run road network, but look a bit further back and things start to become clearer. Back in 2017/18  7,510 miles of roads were maintained – amounting to 2,616 miles more then than now. When you think that the roads are constantly getting busier too – this represents a 35% decrease and makes the figures even more bleak. 

Looking at A roads alone, overall, only 5% were strengthened or resurfaced in the last year, down by a third from six years ago. The figures for minor roads are even worse, just 2% or (4,080 miles) were looked after properly.

Out of England’s 152 councils, half didn’t complete the annual preservation work on the roads needed to keep them properly maintained and free of potholes. Preventative treatments such as surface dressing, micro surfacing, rejuvenation and preservation are needed every year to prevent water from getting into the fabric of the roads and breaking down the structure. If councils keep on top of these treatments pre-emptively, then the roads don’t have a chance to break down and last much longer without any potholes. A stitch in time saves nine seems to be a forgotten proverb in the modern world.

Out of the councils which did carry out road maintenance the data reveals that there was a 23% increase in the number of miles treated – 3,309 miles in 2023/2024 – up from 2,698 the year before. Out of this most was attributed to preservation treatments being applied to minor roads.

16 Councils didn’t resurface any A roads in 2023/2024 and 10 authorities didn’t resurface any minor roads at all. In all only 2% of councils increased road resurfacing on the year before. 

The top prize for the greatest number of resurfaced miles of A road went to Gloucestershire County Council with 24 miles of its 337 mile network – double what it grossed previously.

The winner of the preservation work total was Staffordshire council preserving 9% of its A roads, the same as last year. Surrey won the trophy for the most minor roads resurfaced in the South East with 50 miles of its 2,958 mile network.

This research carried out by the RAC followed a Government funding allowance of £1.6bn for councils to fix potholes, the biggest one-off road maintenance settlement ever given to councils in England.

The RAC head of policy, Simon Williams said:
“It’s good to see an increase in the amount of road maintenance being carried out by councils from the previous financial year, but that’s hardly great progress given the 2022/2023 figure was a five year low. 
And it remains the case that still only a slither of England’s total road network is getting any maintenance attention whatsoever. This reinforces our belief that most councils are in a cycle of merely filling potholes, rather than looking after their roads properly.
The bigger picture is far more concerning because it still shows a significant decline in the proportion of our roads strengthened, resurfaced or preserved compared to six years ago.
As the Government has just given councils a record amount of funding to look after their roads, we hope to see a significant improvement in the quality of road surfaces due to the extra maintenance they will be able to carry out in the next 12 months.
We encourage local authorities to focus on permanent solutions rather than trying to patch pothole ridden roads that are beyond saving. This might include resurfacing or alternatives such as recycling existing materials in-situ. Surface dressing roads in better condition is also important as it ensures they stay that way for longer.
The longer important preservation work, such as surface dressing, is neglected, the more the pothole problem prevails. With a third of councils failing to carry out any such work, it’s no surprise that RAC pothole -related breakdowns jumped by a fifth in the final three months of 2024.
We strongly hope the next set of figures will show we’ve finally turned a corner towards smoother, safer, better roads”.

Mike Hansforth the Road Surface Treatments Association Chief Executive said: 
“Preventative road surface treatments offer councils a cost-effective and lower-carbon approach to managing road assets through their lifecycle. If you invested in most other assets, you would invest in periodic treatments to keep that asset in good condition to achieve optimum performance. An asphalt road should be no different. This preventative maintenance approach results in roads being kept in good condition for longer, reduces future pothole formation, and allows local authorities to treat more of their road networks”

After this many years of under investment, there are many riders and drivers who have come a cropper hitting potholes and need new suspension springs for example or a have a buckled wheel. For motorcyclists the consequences can be even worse and extremely dangerous, so it’s high time the fixing roads figures went up, not down. 

One good way to track the state of your roads locally is to download Stan a free mobile app that collects data on the state of UK roads and engages local authorities to prompts them to take action and sort the issues out.

Are the potholes bad in your area? Any signs of them being repaired? Let us know at [email protected] or on Facebook

NB The RDC0321 Data for 2023/2024 to 2017/2018 was provided by the Department for Transport and analysed by the RAC with ‘Road maintenance’ defined as road strengthening, preserving or resurfacing (ie not filing potholes)