The figures come from the 2025 Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey report shows that more than half (52%), equivalent to around 170,000km, of the local road network has less than 15 years’ structural life remaining. And almost a third of these, 55,630km, may only have up to five years life left.
David Giles, Chair of the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), which commissions the ALARM survey, said: “Over £20 billion has been spent on carriageway maintenance in England and Wales over the last decade, including spending to fill the equivalent* of one pothole every 18 seconds, every day, for 10 years. “However, due partly to the short-term nature of the allocation of funding, it has resulted in no quantifiable uplift in the condition and resilience of the network.
“In fact almost all (94%) local authority highway teams reported that, in their opinion, there has been no improvement to their local network over the last year: a view no doubt shared by the majority of road users.”
Over the past three decades ALARM has reported a repeated pattern of short-term cash injections in an effort to stem the accelerating decline in road conditions, followed by longer periods of cuts and underfunding.
Giles continued, “It was encouraging to hear the Chancellor recognise the importance of roads in the October Budget statement. Her remark that ‘potholes have been an all too visible reminder of our failure to invest as a nation’ echoes our own calls for sustained, targeted investment and a longer-term funding horizon for local roads.
“But is the new Government’s manifesto promise to fix an additional one million potholes each year enough to have any real impact on the condition of our local road network?
“It’s well documented that any investment made in local roads provides an effective return on investment for tax payers. The DfT’s own 2024 economic appraisal for investing in local highways maintenance sets out that ‘for every additional £1 invested there is an absolute minimum return of £2.20, with analyses identifying typical returns of up to £9.10 at a national level.’
“Why then are local authorities, which manage 97% of roads in England and Wales not provided with the five-year funding horizons that National Highways benefits from for the strategic network?
“This year authorities actually reported a drop in their total highway maintenance budgets. However, they have spent a higher percentage on the carriageway itself in an effort to sustain increasingly necessary carriageway maintenance.
“In fact, some local authorities have told us that they need their budgets to more than double for the next five to 10 years if they are going to be able to make any lasting improvements to the condition and resilience of the network.
So, what’s the answer? There needs to be a complete change in mindset away from short-term to long-term funding commitments. Local authorities need a minimum five year funding horizon and there needs to be a substantial, sustained increase in investment with budgets ring-fenced specifically for local roads maintenance.
“Investing in local roads, which support communities and enable connectivity, will allow local authorities to plan and provide better value for money while helping kickstart the Government’s stated economic growth plans.
The problem is by no means limited to the UK either. Recent reports have highlighted the poor state of the road network in Germany, once famed for its high speed Autobahn system.
