Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent representations his Department has received on the safety and cost of road surface dressing.

An e-petition has been placed by Christopher Caswell on HM Government e-petitions. To date, 14 October 2014, it has received 13, 587 signatures and closes on the 30 March 2015.

The Department has also received a small number of correspondence from MPs, the public and a trade association.

This Government takes the issue of road safety and the condition of the road network very seriously.

There are many types of materials to resurface the highway network and surface dressings have been safely used for many years on all classes of road. This type of dressing seals the old road surface, preventing the ingress of water which causes deterioration of the road surface, and the road matrix and thus reducing the risk of wider scale deterioration and road failure. When designed and laid properly they pose no additional risks. On many roads, where traffic flow are not excessively high, surface dressings have been shown to be both cost-effective and sustainable.

The Highways Agency, responsible for the motorway and trunk road network, do not routinely use this type of dressing due to the high traffic flows. For local roads however, which are the statutory responsibility of local highway authorities, it is for each individual authority to decide on the most suitable materials to be used for resurfacing and repair works, based upon their local knowledge and circumstances.