Additional resurfacing funds completely inadequate

The government has announced that it will provide £418,000 of “resurfacing funds” to Wokingham to be spent on road maintenance. However, these funds will not address the existing backlog of damage to roads caused by over a decade of underfunding of local road maintenance by this government.

These funds are reallocated from the cancellation of the HS2 railway. Given the extent of the crisis in local authority funding, any such grant is welcome. However it is symptomatic of the government's lack of concern for the future of the environment that these funds are being provided at the expense of investment in sustainable transport.

It is important, however, to put this in context. £418,000 will pay to resurface around a tiny 0.37% of the 459 miles of road that Wokingham Borough Council is responsible for. Currently, 14% of our roads are already assessed as in need of resurfacing.

The long-term underfunding of road maintenance by government has created an enormous backlog, making roads more vulnerable to damage, including pot-holes. The government also says there is “indicative funding” up until 2034, which across the country could be £8.3 billion. But this is against an existing nationwide funding shortfall of over £14 billion, a shortfall which is growing year on year.

Councillor Paul Fishwick, Executive member for active travel, transport and highways said:

“The government likes to pretend they are funding road maintenance properly with these small additional grants and promises of more in the future. However the reality is that the additional funding is unlikely to offset the ongoing deterioration of our roads let alone restore them to the standard we want.

“To help, we are taking steps to preserve the surfaces as long as possible, including the resealing works we introduced in 2023, and we are exploring additional preventative jet-patching and localised structural repair to make best use of the available funding. We will always repair pot-holes when they create a risk on the roads and we encourage residents to report these if they find them in between our own inspections. But this is just sticking plasters on a long term lack of proper resurfacing and represents a growing drain on the council’s finances.

“Road maintenance is, sadly, one of many examples where the government, presiding over a failing economy is letting down the country, and repeatedly seeking to shift the responsibility to others.”