Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate her Department has made of the average cost of maintaining a mile of road in (a) rural and (b) urban local authorities.

The Department has not made an assessment of the average cost of maintaining a mile of road in rural or urban local authorities. Every area faces its own unique challenges. That is why highways maintenance funding is based on established national datasets like road lengths, to help make the system as fair as possible across the country.

The government plans to review the funding formula that it uses to distribute capital funding to local highways authorities to see whether it can be adjusted to consider, for example, the conditions that affect the wear and tear of local roads. However, the government cannot commit to any changes to the allocation methodology until each option has been assessed for feasibility and deliverability, in line with the normal policy making process. The government would also expect to engage with local highway authorities about any methodology to understand how any changes might impact on their services.