Many of Scotland’s roads ‘no better than third world’

ROADS in parts of Scotland are no better than those in third-world countries, a business leader has claimed, after it emerged more than a third of the local authority road network was in a poor state of repair.

The condition of Scotland’s roads were branded a “national disgrace” by Labour MSP Richard Baker, after a survey from council transport bosses revealed about 62 per cent of the roads run by local authorities were classed as being in a “good condition”, with the remainder falling short of acceptable standards.

The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) issued a stark warning that it would take a “massive amount of money and time” to get the country’s roads back into a good condition.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The survey, published by the Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland, did not reveal the state of roads for specific local authority areas, on the grounds it was “not practical” to do so.

Figures for 2010-11 and part of 2011-12, which are largely unchanged since 2007, showed a similar level of roads in poor condition across areas classed as cities, rural, semi-urban, semi-rural and the islands. However, the authors of the report insisted there had been a “small improvement after some years of deterioration”.

The maintenance backlog for local council roads was reported to be £1.54 billion by public sector watchdog Audit Scotland in its most recent report.

Iain McMillan, director of business group CBI Scotland, called on councils to give a much greater priority to improving the country’s roads.

He said: “The importance of having a well-developed transport infrastructure that is maintained and in good condition cannot be understated.

“Some of the roads in Scotland’s local authorities are in such a bad state of repair that they resemble some roads in the third-world countries.

“Local authorities should be giving much greater priority to the repair and maintenance of that infrastructure.”

The row comes as SNP ministers and Cosla hold a national review into the state and funding of Scotland’s roads. A Cosla spokesman said: “The state of Scotland’s roads is a long-term problem that requires a long-term funding solution. But there is no quick fix or silver bullet, as the money we have is affected by the whole public sector squeeze.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It would take a massive amount of money and time to properly repair some roads.”

Mr Baker, Scottish Labour’s infrastructure spokesman, issued a stark warning that the poor condition of roads could lead to more deaths, as he criticised the decision not to publish individual breakdowns for council areas.

He said: “These figures will not be surprising to most drivers who have to put up with appalling road conditions. But it is still deeply concerning and the fear is that, if roads are allowed to fall apart, it increases the risk of fatalities.

“I understand that in the past, breakdowns for each local area have been published, so it’s disappointing that this appears not to have happened this year, as local authority roads are paid for by public money.”

But the transport directors’ report said “because only 10 per cent of unclassified roads are surveyed each year, results can and do fluctuate from year to year”.

RAC spokesman John Franklin said: “Roads are the lifeblood of any country and the obvious implications of a poor roads network is that people are not able to get around, with a harmful affect on the economy and the potential risk to safety.”

The Scottish Government’s Transport Scotland agency said ministers had provided additional funding that could be used by councils to improve roads.

A spokesman said: “The recent decision to allocate additional resources for transport is further evidence of the significant support that we provide for local authorities that gives them flexibility to allocate resources to road improvements based on local needs and priorities and, for the first time, keep any efficiency savings to re-invest in services.”

Related topics: