Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the costs to motorists arising from potholes.

Local highway authorities including Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire County Councils have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 (as amended) to maintain the highways network in their area. Dealing with any compensation claims due to possible defects, including potholes, on the highway network is entirely the responsibility of the relevant highway authority, and the Department has made no formal assessment of this matter.

The Department is providing over £1 billion of highway maintenance capital grant funding to local authorities in the current financial year. This funding goes to eligible local highway authorities across England, outside of London and the mayoral combined authorities who are in receipt of City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements. As a result of the funding increases announced at Budget 2023 and in the Prime Minister’s Network North programme, local highway authorities in England are generally receiving around 30% more highway maintenance funding from the Department for Transport in the current financial year than in the previous financial year. The Network North programme includes an unprecedented increase of £8.3 billion for local highway maintenance over the period up to 2033/34 to help fix the blight of potholes on our local highway networks up and down the country.

Funding allocations for all eligible local authorities are published on gov.uk. Gloucestershire County Council received a total of £29.1 million of highway maintenance capital grant funding, and Oxfordshire County Council a total of £27.2 million, in the 2023/24 financial year. In each case this was an increase of around 30% compared to the 2022/23 financial year. The Department for Transport has asked local highway authorities to publish on their websites by 15 March 2024 plans setting out how the additional Network North highway maintenance funding will be used, and thereafter quarterly reports on how the funding has been spent.

The Department takes the condition of local roads very seriously. Well-planned, proactive, and good quality maintenance works are vital in preventing prevent potholes and other defects from forming. Councils that do this effectively get better value for every pound spent.

To ensure transparency in the condition of our local road networks, road condition statistics are published annually by the Department and are available on gov.uk. The Government is working with the British Standards Institution and the Transport Research Laboratory to develop a new data standard for assessing road condition to help local authorities identify, assess, and deal with road defects, including potholes.