Local authorities pay £53 million compensation - 04/04/2008

Local authorities across Britain pay an astonishing amount of compensation to road users due to potholes. According to o the latest report from the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), there are more than one million potholes in the roads costing councils £117 million in 2007.

The repairs total a mere £52 million with compensation topping a bill of £53 million and £12 million spent on administrating the claims. AIA’s report concluded that there is a shortfall of £1 billion in highway maintenance budgets and an 11-year backlog of maintenance work. This has resulted in a stream of people injuring themselves and many vehicles being damaged.

The problem will probably escalate in 2008 as 90,000 fewer holes were filled in 2007 than the previous year. Only 854,000 potholes were repaired last year, so councils will therefore endure a greater bill throughout the course of 2008.

The AIA wants to see an immediate injection of funding to address the shortfall, but this is unlikely as local authorities would have already allocated their tight annual budget funded by central government. Should the AIA be successful in their concern, council tax bills will rise dramatically to serve the insufficient funds.

AIA chairman Jim Crick said: “Roads are a vital asset and our most valuable one. We all depend on them every day and it's time the under funding of their maintenance was addressed.”