The backlog of carriageway repairs in England and Wales has reached almost £17bn, with roads only being resurfaced every 93 years on average, according to the road industry's flagship survey.
The 2025 Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey, carried out by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), also found that more than half (52%) of the local road network has less than 15 years’ structural life remaining.
This is around 106,000 miles, with 34,600 miles – a sixth of the total – having up to five years left.
AIA chair David Giles (pictured) said: ‘Over £20bn has been spent on carriageway maintenance in England and Wales over the last decade, including spending to fill the equivalent of one pothole every 18 seconds, every day, for 10 years.
‘However, due partly to the short-term nature of the allocation of funding, it has resulted in no quantifiable uplift in the condition and resilience of the network.
‘In fact, almost all (94%) local authority highway teams reported that, in their opinion, there has been no improvement to their local network over the last year – a view no doubt shared by the majority of road users.’
The ALARM survey reports on local funding and conditions for roads in England and Wales based on information provided directly by those responsible for the maintenance of the network - this year’s survey, the 30th, received a record 78% response rate from local authorities.
The AIA said that over the past three decades the survey has reported a repeated pattern of short-term cash injections in an effort to stem the accelerating decline in road conditions, followed by longer periods of cuts and underfunding.
Mr Giles added: ‘There needs to be a complete change in mindset away from short-term to longer-term funding commitments.
‘Local authorities do their best with the resources available. Nevertheless, they have told us they need their budgets to more than double for the next five to 10 years if they are going to be able to address the backlog of repairs.
‘That is why we are calling on Government, particularly now with a Comprehensive Spending Review ahead, to set a minimum five-year funding horizon and a substantial, sustained increase in investment with budgets ring-fenced specifically for local roads maintenance.
‘Investing in local roads would allow authorities to plan and provide better value for money for taxpayers and deliver a more resilient network while helping kickstart the Government’s economic growth plans.’
The Labour Government has pledged to provide long-term funding settlements to allow councils to plan maintenance, but has so far only announced allocations for the 2025-26 financial year, which it said represented an increase of £500m.
The findings of ALARM 2025, which relate to the 2024/25 financial year, show that in England and Wales:
- £16.81bn is now reported to be required, as a one-off, for local authorities to bring the network up to their ‘ideal’ conditions.
- Local authorities would have needed an extra £7.4m each last year to maintain their network to their own target conditions and prevent further deterioration.
- 24,400 miles (12%) of the network are likely to need some form of maintenance in the next 12 months.
- Just 1.5% of the local road network was resurfaced in the last year.
- Roads are only resurfaced, on average, once every 93 years.
- 1.9 million potholes have been filled, at a cost of £137.4m.
Although the backlog figure of £16.81bn is higher than last year’s record of £16.3bn, in broad terms it represents a situation that is neither improving nor worsening, particularly when inflation is taken into account.
Local Government Association transport spokesperson, Cllr Adam Hug, said: 'It is no surprise to councils that the local roads repair backlog continues to rise, given inflation and huge demand pressures on local government statutory services.
‘The funding increase in the last Budget was positive and must now be followed by a commitment in the Spending Review to a long-term financial package to tackle this backlog and put it into reverse.
‘Investing in local roads now makes them more resilient and last longer, with direct benefits to road users, business, wider society and the environment.’
Paula Claytonsmith, CEO of the Local Council Roads Innovation Group, said: ‘Our research makes it clear: short-term funding and ad hoc funding pots is trapping the sector in a cycle of reactive fixes, stifling innovation and leading to outdated maintenance strategies that ultimately cost the economy more in the long run. Without bold, long-term financial assurances for councils, the situation will only worsen.’
