The government has been urged to introduce five-year budgets for England’s local road maintenance in the upcoming Spending Review.
Four trade bodies wrote to chancellor Rachel Reeves calling for the reform to “maximise efficiency, drive innovation and provide long-term certainty for the industry”.
The call came from the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE), Mineral Products Association (MPA), Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) and Institute of Highway Engineers.
CECA director of operations Marie-Claude Hemming said: “Moving to a five-year funding cycle will provide local authorities with the visibility needed to plan ahead effectively and allow companies working in the sector to unlock efficiencies, foster innovation and deliver better outcomes for millions of road users.
“Should the government work with industry to implement five-year funding cycles, we believe it will see increased returns on this investment in terms of growth, job creation and the economic multipliers a world-class, future-ready roads network will deliver.”
ACE chief executive Kate Jennings added that funding visibility would help businesses to plan ahead and in turn unlock investment, drive job creation, and boost skills development and innovation.
MPA senior director Robert McIlveen said a five-year funding cycle would enable local authorities to move towards proactive maintenance and reduce the number of potholes forming.
Last month, England’s local roads were branded a “national embarrassment” by Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, chair of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.
A report by the committee found the Department for Transport (DfT) failed to keep proper tabs of the issue, with its own data stating the condition of local roads was stable, despite industry bodies finding worsening conditions and public satisfaction in decline.
It added that the model of funding local authorities – where grants are given annually and through 12 different funding pots – was pushing councils to focus more on reactive repair work rather than preventing problems from occurring.
A DfT spokesperson said at the time that it had inherited “decades of decline” and was committed to introducing multi-year funding settlements.
The Treasury has been contacted for comment.
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Ian Weinfass