Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

(asked on 28th February 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much per capita funding was spent on roads maintenance in each region in the most recent period for which figures are available.


Answered by
Andrew Jones Portrait
Andrew Jones
This question was answered on 6th March 2017

The latest data available regarding spend on roads, in England outside London, including roads maintenance in each region is from the Treasury’s country-and-regional-analysis-2016 data. The table below which gives details of the total spend and per capita spend per region is based on this data.

However, it should first be recognised that figures showing road maintenance spend per head of population need to be interpreted with care. Spending on road maintenance in any given region will be driven more by factors such as the nature of the highway asset (which includes not just roads but also bridges, lighting, footways and structures) in that region and the number or density of roads and highway assets in that region than necessarily by how many people live there.

Further, in terms of spending on national roads such as motorways, whilst the spending is allocated statistically to the region in which the maintenance is carried out this will benefit not just those people in that region but also those travelling across the country from other regions and using that motorway.

In terms of spending on local roads, whilst the Department for Transport allocates roads maintenance funding to local highway authorities, this funding is not ring-fenced and how much each local highway authority in any given region chooses to spend on highways maintenance will reflect their own local priorities.

Current spend: Local roads and National roads (£000)

2011-12

2012-13

2013-14

2014-15

2015-16

North East

138,373

126,543

113,734

104,811

115,357

North West

269,883

229,482

209,391

207,885

252,738

Yorkshire and The Humber

259,354

252,881

244,289

221,242

246,860

East Midlands

217,024

179,881

160,116

150,850

184,834

West Midlands

235,159

212,394

220,876

200,130

252,556

East

302,927

265,192

259,754

242,388

289,872

South East

469,799

497,259

527,773

502,935

441,460

South West

275,149

246,087

175,353

170,115

203,499

England (excluding London)

2,167,668

2,009,719

1,911,286

1,800,356

1,987,176

Mid-Year Population Estimates

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

North East

2,596,441

2,602,310

2,610,481

2,618,710

2,624,621

North West

7,055,961

7,084,337

7,103,261

7,132,991

7,173,835

Yorkshire and The Humber

5,288,212

5,316,691

5,337,711

5,360,027

5,390,576

East Midlands

4,537,448

4,567,731

4,598,431

4,637,413

4,677,038

West Midlands

5,608,667

5,642,569

5,674,712

5,713,284

5,751,000

East

5,862,418

5,907,348

5,954,316

6,018,383

6,076,451

South East

8,652,784

8,724,737

8,792,766

8,873,818

8,947,913

South West

5,300,831

5,339,637

5,377,596

5,423,303

5,471,180

England (excluding London)

44,902,762

45,185,360

45,449,274

45,777,929

46,112,614

Per capita (£)

2011-12

2012-13

2013-14

2014-15

2015-16

North East

53

49

44

40

44

North West

38

32

29

29

35

Yorkshire and The Humber

49

48

46

41

46

East Midlands

48

39

35

33

40

West Midlands

42

38

39

35

44

East

52

45

44

40

48

South East

54

57

60

57

49

South West

52

46

33

31

37

England (excluding London)

48

44

42

39

43

Note that this includes non-DFT spend.

Further details and can be found in HM Treasury’s Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis for 2015/16;

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/569815/Country_and_Regional_Analysis_November_2016.pdf

Reticulating Splines