£100m extra for English councils' pothole repairs

Last week we brought you news about Scotland’s £2.25 billion highway maintenance and repair bill and today the Government announced that £100m of extra funding will be made available to councils in England.

The money will be distributed across the country, proportionately according to the condition and length of each authority’s road network.

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said the funding is: "set at the maximum amount that we can afford to deliver to local authorities during a period of public spending constraint.

"Now individual local authorities have to decide how to use that money, as between patching up - short-term patching up of really serious problems in the roads, potholes and so on - and the longer-term maintenance programme."

But councils across the UK are increasingly having to pay out to motorists whose vehicles have been damaged as well as to cyclists suffering damage to both their bikes and their bodies.

The insurer Warranty Direct estimates that potholes are costing motorists over £1m per day in repairs. Meanwhile for cyclists, in addition to being extra vigilant, reporting potholes using the CTC’s fillthathole website is probably the nearest thing to positive action which can be taken.