Analysis: Delaying road repairs is a false economy – so get on with it

A CRUCIAL point to get across is that for every £1 cut in spending on road maintenance, it costs £1.50 in terms of damage to the road and all the consequences of this.

A big issue is the delays to roads being repaired, which often means that, while there’s a wait for work to begin, a road starts to fall apart.

This can cost up to nine times what it would have done if the work had been carried out swiftly. Unplanned work is almost invariably more expensive in terms of extra emergency measures that have to be taken. There’s also the risk of insurance claims for any damage to vehicles suffered due to the poor condition of a road.

Across the UK, there is a big road maintenance backlog and it’s likely that there always will be. However, it shouldn’t be such a big backlog that it goes into the red – to take the traffic-light test. We should be looking to nip the problems with roads when they are in the orange.

The lack of funding for this area clearly shows that roads are the poor relation, compared to other government priorities.

There’s a real failure to understand that we use roads to do almost everything. Yet these hugely valuable assets are neglected in terms of funding. The big hope is the review in Scotland will lead to a better understanding of the economic importance of preserving the roads infrastructure.

Governments have to understand that big savings can be made by intervening early to maintain and repair roads. There’s a real need for improved efficiency in local authority road maintenance programmes, in terms of better procurement to free up increased funds. Private finance initiatives and prudential borrowing are things that should be looked at as well.

• Paul Watters is head of public affairs and roads policy at the AA.