The backlog* of carriageway repairs to fix local roads in the South West has escalated to £1.42 billion, compounded by increased costs caused by rising inflation, reports this year's Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey.

The ALARM survey, published today (March 22 by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), highlights the scale of the worsening issue faced by highway engineers who have to make difficult choices about keeping local roads open and safe versus improving overall conditions.

Average highway maintenance budgets are down 2% in the region but the backlog of carriageway repairs has more than doubled in the last year to £1.42 billion (2020/21: £600.5m) or £46,534 for every mile of road in the region.

Rick Green, AIA Chair, said: "Local authority highway teams have a legal responsibility to keep our roads safe, but do not have the funds to do so in a cost effective, proactive way. As a result, while they report some slight improvements in surface conditions, the overall structure of our roads continues to decline.

"Although surface repairs have a part to play in extending the life of local roads, short-term fixes, including filling potholes, is indicative of a network that is 'on the edge' and less efficient and sustainable when it comes to materials usage and whole-life carbon emissions."

This year marks the 27th successive ALARM survey, which received responses from 74% of local authorities in the South West. It reports local roads funding and conditions based on information provided directly by those responsible for its maintenance.

The findings of ALARM 2022, which relate to the 2021/22 financial year, show that in the South West:

Local authorities would have needed an extra £63 million last year just to reach their own target road conditions, before even thinking about tackling the backlog of repairs

16% of roads – the equivalent of 4,900 miles – could need to be rebuilt in the next five years

Roads are only resurfaced on average once every 79 years

One pothole is filled the equivalent of every two minutes

£4.9 million spent on road user compensation claims

Rick Green added: "The link between continued underinvestment and the ongoing structural decline and below par surface conditions of our local roads is clear. The country's ambitions to encourage active travel, plus cutting waste and carbon emissions, will not be achieved with a short-term approach that can't deliver a first-rate local road network. "Recent government announcements regarding three-year spending on maintenance for England are a step in the right direction but don't go far enough. To ensure we have a safe, resilient, sustainable network on which we can all rely, a longer-term approach and significant investment is still needed. "The longer it takes for the funding to be put in place to tackle the backlog of repairs, the more it is going to cost to put it right in the future. ALARM 2022 indicates that what is needed in the South West is an additional £193.2 million a year over the next decade to allow highway teams to bring local roads up to a point from where they can be cost-effectively maintained going forward." Commenting on the findings of ALARM 2022, Jack Cousens, Head of Roads Policy at the AA, said: "Each year the debate around roads maintenance degenerates into a blame game between local authorities and Government as each claims it is the other's responsibility to resolve. Local and national government must get round the table and create a fully-funded plan that will help make our roads safer. There is now a need to focus available road funding on the most basic need: fixing the roads – for the benefit of drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. Despite talks of levelling up, road users would simply like the roads levelled out."