Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the backlog in local road maintenance.

The Government takes the condition of local roads very seriously and is committed to maintaining and renewing the local highway network, which is why the Government has announced a record of £7.3 billion investment for local highway maintenance over the next four years, bringing annual funding to over £2 billion annually by 2029/30. This investment to improve the condition of our roads will make journeys faster and smoother but also protects drivers from paying hundreds of pounds in costly repairs following pothole-related breakdowns. This builds on nearly £1.6 billion in capital funding that has been provided for local highways maintenance in England for the financial year 2025/26, a £500 million increase compared to the previous financial year. Funding allocations for individual local authorities can be found on gov.uk.

DfT collects and collates information on the condition of roads from local authorities in England annually. This information is published as official statistics. The latest release of these statistics was in December 2024, which covered data for the financial year ending March 2024. These statistics showed that in the financial year ending March 2024:

• Local ‘A’ roads: 4% should have been considered for maintenance, and 27% may require maintenance soon.
• ‘B’ and ‘C’ roads: 7% should have been considered for maintenance, and 31% may require maintenance soon.
• Unclassified roads: 17% should have been considered for maintenance.

The statistics can be found online, at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/road-conditions-in-england-to-march-2024