Labour councils spend £4.24 more per person fixing potholes than Tory town halls
Labour town halls spend £4.24 per person a year more than Conservative councils on fixing potholes and other road maintenance, an analysis claimed tonight.
Keir Starmer’s party said the total budget Labour-controlled authorities earmarked for “highways and roads – structural maintenance” in 2022-23 was £212million.
Spread among the 21.5m people living under Labour-rule councils, it equated to £9.88 per person.
In contrast, the overall budget allocated by Conservative-controlled councils was £164m - which, for their 29.1m population, worked out at £5.64 per person.
Labour analysed the Department for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities’ latest local authority revenue expenditure and financing England document.
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The study comes as the countdown to next month’s local elections hots up - with the state of community roads set to be a major flashpoint.
The Prime Minister inspects a pothole along with Tories from the North East (PA)Shadow Local Government Minister Sarah Owen said: “In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, families cannot afford the added expense of car repairs caused by potholes.
“The Prime Minister vowed to make potholes a thing of the past but, in another broken promise, he’s left eight million of them on our roads.
“Despite less and less support from central government, Labour councils are continuing to deliver for their local residents - investing more than Tory councils to remove the scourge of potholes from our roads.”
Last month, the Asphalt Industry Alliance published its annual local authority road maintenance study, warning it would cost £14.02billion to tackle the backlog of repairs and “bring the network up to a standard from which it can be maintained efficiently and cost effectively going forward”.
Shadow Local Government Minister Sarah OwenThe lobby group said that while 51% of local roads were reported to be “in good structural condition”, the remainder - more than 100,000 miles - “could, without appropriate maintenance measures, continue to deteriorate to the point of needing to be rebuilt within the next 15 years”.
It pointed out that roads are only resurfaced once every 116 years on average.
The Local Government Association’s transport spokesman David Renard said at the time: “Councils work tirelessly to repair our local roads, which are the bedrock of our economy – vital for businesses and for ordinary people going about their day-to-day lives.
“It is therefore alarming that, due to soaring inflation and historic funding cuts, councils’ repair backlog has grown and this has become increasingly challenging to tackle.
“To improve the condition of our roads, the Government should provide a funding increase for councils, including meeting new inflationary pressures.
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Potholes blight roads for drivers (Getty Images/iStockphoto)“This would help councils focus on long-term investment in existing roads, delivering preventative maintenance and reducing the occurrence of potholes in the first place, which are more expensive to repair.”
Hitting back at Labour, Roads Minister Richard Holden said: “Only Labour would boast that their councillors don’t get value for taxpayers’ money.
“The figures are crystal clear - Conservative councils fix more potholes and at less cost.
Roads Minister Richard Holden (BBC)“With the Conservatives you get better local services at lower cost, whether it’s delivering better roads or better local services.”
Asked to provide evidence for the claim “Conservative councils fix more potholes and at less cost”, Conservative Campaign Headquarters cited historic freedom of information requests without saying when information was provided or to whom.
Asked to provide the FoI data, CCHQ refused.
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