Apr. 19 2024
Source Page: Budget allocated for roads including repairs, resurfacing, traffic lights: FOI releaseFound: Budget allocated for roads including repairs, resurfacing, traffic lights: FOI release
Mentions:
1: Lord Carlile of Berriew (XB - Life peer) road pricing would enable the police very much more easily to detect vehicle crime, particularly on motorways - Speech Link
2: Lord Livermore (Lab - Life peer) backlog for repairs has risen to a record high. - Speech Link
3: Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con - Life peer) been earmarked for local road maintenance over the next 11 years. - Speech Link
4: Lord Dubs (Lab - Life peer) agree that road pricing would have another benefit, in that it could be used to ease congestion on motorways - Speech Link
Asked by: White, Tess (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - North East Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how (a) many potholes have been reported and (b) much has been spent on repairing potholes on the (i) A92/A96 Haudagain Roundabout, (ii) A92 Trunk Road (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) (Stonehaven to Charleston), (iii) A956 Trunk Road (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) (Cleanhill to Charleston) and (iv) M90/A90/A9000 Trunk Road (Edinburgh to Fraserburgh), in each of the past five years.
Answered by Hyslop, Fiona - Minister for Transport
Transport Scotland, through its four Trunk Road Operating Companies and five Design Build Finance Operate (DBFO) Concessionaires, is responsible for the management and maintenance of the strategic trunk road network, including motorways.? The repair of potholes on all other roads is the responsibility of the local authorities.
Category 1 potholes are defined within the term maintenance contract as those that present, or could present, an immediate hazard to trunk road users. They are typically detected during driven safety related inspections. The following table shows the number of Category 1 potholes recorded since 2019 for each section of network requested.
2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | |
A92/A96 Haudagain Roundabout | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
A92 Trunk Road (AWPR) (Stonehaven to Charleston) | 21 | 41 | 21 | 38 | 16 |
A956 Trunk Road (AWPR) (Cleanhill to Charleston) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
M90/A90/A9000 Trunk Road (Edinburgh to Fraserburgh) | 546 | 854 | 673 | 934 | 309 |
The Scottish Government fully funds the inspection and repair of all Category 1 potholes and the term maintenance contracts set out strict timescales for their repair. Following identification of Category 1 pothole defects, the Operating Companies are required to make the defect safe by 6am the following morning, preferably by completing a permanent repair. Where this is not possible then a temporary repair is required within the same timescale and permanent repairs are required within 28 days.
We currently do not hold data on the cost of Category 1 pothole repairs that allows it to be broken down into the network sections in the table above. The total expenditure for Category 1 defect repairs (which includes potholes) for the full financial year 2022-23 across the whole of the North East Unit is £440,650. Data for previous years is not available as prior to 2022 Category 1 defect repairs were funded from commercially sensitive monthly lump sums.
Found: Potholes and local road maintenance funding
Mentions:
1: Jonathan Gullis (Con - Stoke-on-Trent North) The remaining 35% of traffic is carried on the 3% of roads that are motorways or trunk A roads.Clearly - Speech Link
2: Guy Opperman (Con - Hexham) The money could also be spent on additional highway maintenance activities, over and above those already - Speech Link
Asked by: White, Tess (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - North East Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how (a) many potholes have been reported on the trunk road network and (b) much has been spent on repairing potholes, in each year since 2007, also broken down by geographical area.
Answered by Hyslop, Fiona - Minister for Transport
Transport Scotland, through its four Trunk Road Operating Companies and five Design Build Finance Operate (DBFO) Concessionaires, is responsible for the management and maintenance of the strategic trunk road network, including motorways. The repair of potholes on all other roads is the responsibility of the local authorities.
Category 1 potholes are defined within the term maintenance contract as those that present, or could present, an immediate hazard to trunk road users. They are typically detected during driven safety related inspections. The following table shows the number of Category 1 potholes recorded since 2013 broken down by operational area. A map showing these operational areas can be found here . Data between 2007 and 2013 is not available.
South East | South West | North East | North West | AWPR | M77 DBFO | M6 DBFO | M8 DBFO | M80 DBFO | Grand Total | |
2013-14 | 0 | 718 | 0 | 2154 | 114 | 114 | 8 | 3108 | ||
2014-15 | 453 | 1435 | 204 | 2673 | 81 | 101 | 100 | 4 | 5051 | |
2015-16 | 646 | 2011 | 1010 | 4136 | 89 | 80 | 215 | 4 | 8191 | |
2016-17 | 598 | 1982 | 1596 | 3925 | 110 | 47 | 189 | 6 | 8453 | |
2017-18 | 890 | 4231 | 2258 | 5155 | 95 | 94 | 119 | 18 | 12860 | |
2018-19 | 709 | 4066 | 1384 | 5095 | 116 | 38 | 49 | 4 | 11461 | |
2019-20 | 717 | 4872 | 1468 | 5115 | 106 | 35 | 61 | 0 | 12374 | |
2020-21 | 678 | 3999 | 2153 | 5566 | 2 | 213 | 52 | 31 | 1 | 12695 |
2021-22 | 785 | 2181 | 1510 | 4864 | 134 | 105 | 23 | 7 | 9609 | |
2022-23 | 879 | 2371 | 1689 | 3073 | 21 | 140 | 86 | 48 | 19 | 8326 |
The Scottish Government fully funds the inspection and repair of all Category 1 potholes and the term maintenance contracts set out strict timescales for their repair. Following identification of Category 1 pothole defects, the Operating Companies are required to make the defect safe by 6am the following morning, preferably by completing a permanent repair. Where this is not possible then a temporary repair is required within the same timescale and permanent repairs are required within 28 days.
Road maintenance works are undertaken by our contractors under a term-maintenance contract, the current version of which is known as the Network Management Contract. This contract commenced in 2020 in the South units and in 2022 in the North units. Prior to this, the 4G Operating Company Contract was in place, under which arrangements, Category 1 defect repairs were funded from commercially sensitive monthly lump sums. We cannot, therefore, provide expenditure on Category 1 defect repairs from the previous contract. Similarly, the costs for defect repairs conducted by the DBFO contractors is included within their wider service charge and so it is not possible to extract or provide these costs. Expenditure under the Network Maintenance Contract for previous financial years is provided in the following table.
Unit | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
North East | £440,650 | ||
North West | £1,351,727 | ||
South East | £314,571 | £745,003 | £585,680 |
South West | £472,008 | £570,657 | £777,523 |
Mentions:
1: Lord Goddard of Stockport (LD - Life peer) There are prolonged lane closures and endless repairs due to budget cuts. - Speech Link
2: Lord Holmes of Richmond (Con - Life peer) and maintenance challenges? - Speech Link
3: Baroness Randerson (LD - Life peer) Our roads, both local and national highways, are seriously congested and in urgent need of repairs. - Speech Link
4: Lord Davies of Gower (Con - Life peer) road network of motorways and major A roads. - Speech Link
Oral Evidence Jan. 24 2024
Committee: Transport Committee (Department: Department for Transport)Found: National Highways, National Highways, and National Highways Oral Evidence
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 9 September 2019 to Question 287534 on Roads: Repairs and Maintenance, what his policy is on the hypothecation of Vehicle Excise Duty to roads spending.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Revenue raised through English Vehicle Excise Duty is being reinvested into the English road network between 2020-2025 to fund road enhancement projects including the second Road Investment Strategy (RIS2), which is the largest ever investment in England’s motorways and A Roads.
Spending Review 2021 confirmed £24 billion of strategic roads investment between 2020 and 2025 and over £8 billion investment for local roads maintenance and enhancements over this Parliament to fill millions of potholes a year, resurface roads and repair bridges, as well as delivering vital local road upgrades.
Spring Budget 2023 also provided an additional £200m in 23-24 to maintain and improve local roads. This increase will enable local authorities in England to fix more potholes, complete resurfacing, and invest in major repairs and renewals, such as keeping bridges and major structures open. The increase is expected to fix the equivalent of up to four million additional potholes across the country.
Mentions:
1: Mark Harper (Con - Forest of Dean) North plan, the Government are providing a record funding increase of £8.3 billion for local highways maintenance - Speech Link
2: Mark Harper (Con - Forest of Dean) street works regime to crack down on the worst performing companies leaving behind poor road surface repairs - Speech Link
3: Daniel Zeichner (Lab - Cambridge) It has meant that buses are snarled up and motorists and bus users have had thousands and thousands of - Speech Link
4: Mark Harper (Con - Forest of Dean) next Tuesday, National Highways is lifting over 1,000 miles of roadworks, which means that over 98% of motorways - Speech Link