Roads face ruin as funds fall short

Local authorities need better planned maintenance schedules and more government money if they want to stop their roads crumbling away.

Asphalt Industry Alliance chairman Jim Crick's call came as the RAC revealed that call-outs for punctures were up 12% on the previous year to 230,196 - largely due to deteriorating road conditions.

Crick said: "It is a dire state of affairs. The Alliance's ALARM survey this year showed a £1bn shortfall in the road structure budget in England. It is serious and sadly isn't getting any better.

"All local authority highways engineers can try to do is alleviate the problem of potholes, but that's all the money they have. These professional highways engineers are the biggest asset we have as council tax payers and they're going to rack and ruin," he warned.

He called for better structural maintenance, with more Government money to support it as the RAC also asked for more Government investment.

A Department for Transport spokeswoman said: "The Government has more than trebled funding to councils for roads investment. The latest three- year settlement means funding will be £809m in 2010/2011, up from £265m in 2000-2001. This is in addition to funding provided for routine maintenance."