Found: Your application is on the subject of potholes and highway maintenance.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve road (a) maintenance and (b) conditions in the North West.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

On 4 October 2023 the Prime Minister announced an unprecedented increase of £8.3 billion for local highway maintenance over the period from 2023/24 to 2033/34 to help fix the blight of potholes on our local highway networks up and down the country.

As part of this, local highway authorities in the North West of England will receive in total a minimum funding uplift of £1.269 billion between 2023-24 and 2033-34. This includes an additional £19 million in both the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years to allow local highway authorities across the North West to make an immediate start on improving road conditions. Funding allocations for individual local highway authorities are published on gov.uk.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the amount that local authorities have spent on repairing potholes (a) nationally and (b) in York in the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Under the 1980 Highway Act, it is the responsibility of the local highway authority, such as the City of York Council, to maintain and manage the highway network they are responsible for. The Government provides highway maintenance and other funding to local authorities but does not collect data on how much each one spends on repairing potholes: this is a matter for each local highway authority.

In 2023/24, the Government provided the City of York Council with £3.69 million of capital funding for local highway maintenance. This represents an increase of around 30% compared to the previous year, made possible in part by reallocating funding that would otherwise have been spent on the HS2 programme.

The Department annually collects and publishes statistics on gov.uk that detail the condition and maintenance of the highways in England. This includes total expenditure on the local highway network in England, broken down by structural maintenance, routine treatments, and highways planning and strategy on different categories of road:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/road-condition-statistics-data-tables-rdc

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department spent on repairing potholes (a) nationally and (b) in York in the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Under the 1980 Highway Act, it is the responsibility of the local highway authority, such as the City of York Council, to maintain and manage the highway network it is responsible for.

The Government allocates funding to local highways authorities so they can most effectively spend this funding on maintaining and improving their respective network, based upon their local knowledge, circumstances and priorities. It is up to the respective highway authority how best to spend this funding to fulfil their statutory duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980. In 2023/24, the Department for Transport provided £1.3 billion of Highway Maintenance Block capital funding to local highway authorities in England outside London and the Mayoral Combined Authority areas, of which the City of York Council received £3.699 million. This was 30% higher than the equivalent figure for 2022/23.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding has been provided to BCP council to fix potholes.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

In 2023/24 the Government provided Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council with £6.24 million of capital funding for local highway maintenance. This was an increase of around 30% compared to the previous year, made possible in part by reallocating £604,000 of funding that would otherwise have been spent on the HS2 programme. In total, Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council will receive an uplift of over £18 million over the next decade as a result of the decision to reallocate HS2 funding.

It is up to Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council to determine how best to use this funding based on local needs, priorities and circumstances. Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council has published on its website details of how it intends to spend the additional funding the Government has provided (https://www.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/projects-plans-and-consultations/highway-maintenance)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the impact of potholes on drivers in Warwickshire.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Secretary of State is keen to support motorists in Warwickshire, and elsewhere, by mitigating the impact of potholes. Under the 1980 Highways Act, local highway authorities, such as Warwickshire County Council, are responsible for maintaining and managing the local highway network within their area.

For the 2024/25 financial year, the Government is providing Warwickshire County Council with over £18.2 million for highway maintenance. This includes £2.056 million of reallocated HS2 funding and is a 12.7% increase over the funding the Council was expecting in 2024/25 before the Prime Minister’s Network North announcement.

It is up to the respective highway authority how best to spend this funding to fulfil their statutory duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980. Funding is not ring fenced and Warwickshire can spend the money on all aspects of highway maintenance such as bridges, cycleways, and lighting columns – and not just the fixing of potholes.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an estimate of the number of pothole-related damages to vehicles in Warwickshire in each year since 2010.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Under the 1980 Highways Act, local highway authorities, such as Warwickshire County Council, are responsible for maintaining and managing the local highway network within their area.

For the 2024/25 financial year, the Government is providing Warwickshire County Council with over £18.2 million for highway maintenance. This includes £2.056 million of reallocated HS2 funding and is a 12.7% increase over the funding the Council was expecting in 2024/25 before the Prime Minister’s Network North announcement.

It is up to the respective highway authority how best to spend this funding to fulfil their statutory duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980. Funding is not ring fenced and Warwickshire can spend the money on all aspects of highway maintenance such as bridges, cycleways, and lighting columns – and not just the fixing of potholes.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funds his Department has allocated to help improve local traffic movements in the last five years.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department has a number of funding streams which can help improve local traffic movements. These include the Integrated Transport Block, which can support small-scale local improvements, and the Highway Maintenance Block which helps deliver smoother roads. Details of the funding provided under each are available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/roads-funding-information-pack/roads-funding-information-pack.

In addition, there are a number of wider Government funds such as the Levelling Up Fund, Active Travel Fund and Future High Streets all of which have supported improvements to local roads.

As announced in the Plan for Drivers, the Department has provided £50 million to local authorities to upgrade traffic signals to help improve traffic flow. This includes £30 million to replace outdated equipment, and £20 million to reduce poor traffic light sequencing through innovative technology that responds to live traffic conditions. Details of the funding allocations are available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/traffic-signal-obsolescence-grant-and-green-light-fund-allocations”

Found: North plan, announced last October, included an unprecedented £8.3 billion funding uplift for local highway

Found: You suggested that the Government lacked a coherent plan for highway maintenance and that recent funding