Oral Answers to Questions

Emma Foody Excerpts

Thursday 9th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jen Craft (Thurrock) (Lab)]

15. What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the condition of local roads.

[Emma Foody (Cramlington and Killingworth) (Lab/Co-op)]

17. What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the condition of local roads.

[The Secretary of State for Transport (Heidi Alexander)]

The Government are determined to help local authorities in England to tackle the highways maintenance backlog that is the result of a decade of under-investment by the previous Government. We are making an immediate start by providing an extra £500 million next year—an increase of nearly 50% compared with the current financial year.

--- Later in debate ---

[Heidi Alexander]

Our broken roads have long been a national embarrassment, and a proper fund to fix our roads has long been overdue. In answer to my hon. Friend’s specific question, RAC data shows that the average cost of pothole-related damage to vehicles is about £500, with severe repairs often costing much more. The Government’s extra funding for local highways maintenance next year could therefore save individual motorists in Thurrock hundreds of pounds, if not more.

[Emma Foody]

Local residents tell me of their frustration at the epidemic level of potholes across my constituency after 14 years of failure to grasp the problem. Motorists are all too often the ones who will pay the price. Does the Secretary of State agree that local councils like Northumberland, North Tyneside and Newcastle in my constituency will benefit from proper long-term funding to allow them to plan works and carry out repairs?

[Heidi Alexander]

I totally agree with my hon. Friend. We need to get the basics right as a country, and fixing our roads is the first step to getting our economy firing on all cylinders. We did see a decade of decline and under-investment under the previous Conservative Government. The additional £500 million that we have allocated, if it were all used to fill potholes, would fill another 7 million potholes every year, smashing our manifesto commitment to provide funding for an extra 1 million.