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The Road Surface Treatments Association (RSTA) has described the Chancellor Philip Hammond’s pledge of an additional £45 million to repair potholes as ‘paltry’. The funding pledge is in the small print of today’s Autumn Statement.

“Although the Department for Transport did announce in January 2017 funding of £1.2 billion for English local roads for the period 2017-18. That does not address the staggering £12 billion necessary to address the current backlog of repairs and potholes and bring the local road network up to an acceptable standard. This additional £45 million is a low paltry figure when set against the annual £58 billion that motorists pay in taxation for the privilege of driving on a deteriorating road network,” said Howard Robinson RSTA chief executive.

The condition of the roads provides a visible indication of the state of a country’s social well being and economic performance. With every road journey starting and ending on a local road the need for have a well-maintained network is paramount. The Autumn Statement states that: “good quality infrastructure is essential for the economy and productivity”, but as Robinson pointed out: “The development of a first class global economy will not happen on a third world road network.

Yet again, we have a chancellor who has failed to address the decades of under-investment in road maintenance. He has demonstrated no understanding that a well-maintained local road network is essential to the national economy.”