Leeds City Council expects to receive £4.5m to fix potholes as government announces cash for road maintenance

The figure, which would come as part of a £1.6bn budget for repairing highway faults in England over the next financial year, would help to clear a “backlog” in the city, authority leaders said.

On Friday (December 20), the Department for Transport revealed details of how funds would be divided across the country. The annual spend is £500 million higher than in the last financial year, as promised in the Autumn Budget, with ministers predicting the increased funding could pay for repairs to an extra 7,000,000 potholes.

But the government said that it would be holding back a quarter of the extra £500 million until councils can prove they are delivering on scheduled repair works.

That has caused concerns for authority bosses in Leeds, as they suggested it could take £288 million to bring roads across the city up to standard over the next two decades.

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A spokesperson for the authority said: “Leeds City Council welcomes the announcement of additional funding relating to highway maintenance, focused on dealing with the backlog of potholes, which will have a positive impact on our already substantial programme of works.

“Leeds City Council sets a high priority on maintaining our roads because we know it is a high priority for our residents.

“As with many other authorities across the country we are dealing with a maintenance backlog on our roads, so we do need more financial support.

“On current funding levels, our latest estimate is that it would take more than £288 million, over 19 years, to bring all 2,944 kilometres of our roads up to an acceptable standard.”

They continued: “We estimate that the funding announced today will lead to Leeds receiving circa £4.5 million.

“We also have concerns that 25% of the uplift could be held back based on various criteria. We call again for committed and significant long-term funding to enable Leeds and other local authorities to resolve the pothole issues across the country.

“We have invested tens of millions of council funding into highways maintenance over many years, alongside government funding.

“We have a robust asset management system in place in Leeds to monitor and consider works on the highway, with a substantial programme of preventative maintenance works each year which aims to prolong the life of roads and help prevent potholes forming.

“Where we do have reports of pothole defects we have teams out daily, making these safe. Residents are able to proactively report any potholes online via the LCC website. Report an issue with a road or pavement (leeds.gov.uk).”