Britain's Roads Blighted By 'Pothole Plague'

Britain's roads are "plagued with potholes" despite billions of pounds in investment, the AA has said.

A so-called army of 1000 streetwatchers found an average of 14.9 potholes per neighbourhood compared with 12.5 a year ago.

The AA warned local authorities must "get a grip" on the problem as the UK heads into a third straight harsh winter.

But the Government says that despite widespread public funding cuts, the pothole problem is being taken seriously with huge investment taking place.

The average at present for north east England is 19 potholes per neighbourhood, while the Scotland average is 20.1.

Across the Midlands, for every three repaired potholes, there was one that the councils had marked but not repaired yet. This compared with a UK average of six repaired to one marked but not repaired.

Against a national average of 12.8 repaired potholes per neighbourhood, south east England averaged 13.7, south west England 13.8, Scotland 14 and north east England 16.4.

AA president Edmund King said: "Our streetwatch volunteers have once again shown that the UK has a pothole plague which has not gone away despite extra repairs this year.

"Highways authorities need to get to grips with the pothole problem, as compensation claims will soar when cold weather strikes and roads start breaking up again placing greater burdens on already strained budgets."

Local Transport Minister Norman Baker said: "Local roads are managed by local highway authorities and they are best placed to use their local knowledge and experience to decide how to prioritise expenditure across all their services, including their local roads.

"Despite the current severe fiscal restraints we are providing £3bn to councils for road maintenance over the next four years and an additional £6m for longer-term strategies.

"On top of this we have exceptionally provided an extra windfall of £200m to repair potholes on the local road network following the severe winter weather at the end of last year."

Councillor Peter Box, chairman of the Local Government Association 's economy and transport board, said councils filled a record 2.2 million potholes last year - one every 15 seconds.

He added that during 2010/11 they spent £1.3bn repairing roads, £128m more than the previous year, despite having their highways' budgets cut by the Government.

"Parts of the country which have milder winters have less destruction wreaked on their roads by ice," he said.

"Ranking geographical areas without taking this major factor into account displays a fundamental lack of understanding about road maintenance."