Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Local authorities face pothole repair funding gap
Town halls, responsible for more than 95 per cent of the road network, fixed 2 million potholes last year, according to LGA estimates. However, local authorities will receive £165m less capital funding from the Government to fix roads this year than in 2010.
The warning comes as highways officers up and down the country assess the damage caused to roads last month during the coldest December in 100 years.
The Local Government Association has warned that councils face a double whammy of crumbling roads and swingeing cuts to their road repair budgets.
From April, the Department for Transport will be cutting £65m from the money it gives to councils to fund road repairs.
Last year, the government gave councils an extra £100m to fix potholes following extreme winter weather.
Tags for Forum Posts: potholes, public spending cuts
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by stuart on
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If that pothole photographed is at the top of Beresford , it's twice as big now
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Permalink Reply by philipjm on
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Wow!? So where's the extra revenue from road tax going? From April 2010 it practically doubled for some vehicles - the road tax of one of my friend's cars was nearly £1000 pa!!? Or has that been abolished with the coalition gvt?
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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Well, I think you'll find that the tax you are paying is called vehicle excise duty and is a tax upon your car. All roads are paid for via general taxation, even by people who don't use cars but instead rely on bicycles, buses and even shanks' pony to get around. There is no ring fencing of the money raised by VED or fuel tax.
The vast majority of road maintenance is done by local councils and they use money out of central government funding from a pot paid into by all taxpayers. What they do with the money from vehicle excise duty is what they do with other taxes, it goes into a big pot and is not directed only to road maintenance. So, in answer to your question, presumably the extra revenue goes to other funding streams.
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I had assumed there would be a direct corellation between the two, but thank you for clarifying. I can't admit (evidently) to a great deal of knowledge on such matters.
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Permalink Reply by Alison P on
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There is YouTube video that illustrates this (that road tax does not exist). Its focus is on cyclists but it makes the general point very well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-t5kSZPHus&feature=youtube_gdat...
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Permalink Reply by RuthE on
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I now have to dodge about 10 pot holes to cycle 5mins to the gym in woodgreen and (like my backside) they are getting bigger by the day.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Can I please repeat my suggestions from last year about reporting potholes.
The Council website Report-a-problem page lets you show the location of a pothole on a streetmap. (But doesn't have a facility to send a photo.)
A useful website is FillThatHole.org which passes on details of potholes to the relevant local council. It lets you send a photo as well as a description. Crucially, reported potholes are shown on a map so anyone can see when and where a pothole was reported.
It's also worth re-reporting a particular pothole if it's clearly growing bigger. (They tend to, especially if heavy vehicles hit the same spots over and again.)
Last year, one frustrating aspect of the Council's response was a refusal to give any value to on-the-spot assessments by residents. For example, Call Centre staff weren't supposed to ask how large or potentially hazardous a pothole might be. (That may have changed.) The officers' view seemed to be that assessment was entirely up to the Highways Inspectors.
Which to me, was a symptom of a culture in parts of Haringey where officers (and some councillors) know the words 'participation' and 'co-production' but they can't sing the tune. They obdurately resisted any idea that the process could be a partnership between council staff and members of the public.
So if you do spot a large, really dangerous pothole, please stress this fact - and keep a copy of your email. That way, if there's a nasty accident the council can't say: "We didn't know; our inspector hadn't yet visited."
A point for RuthE and others who feel as well as see potholes. In the past I've suggested the Council should try to engage cyclists as volunteer pothole reporters. (More 'co-production'!) One development shown on the FillThatHole website is an iPhone app which "lets you report potholes from the kerbside".
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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The increased revenue from parking permits can ( I think ) be used to fund pothole repairs as that would be a road safety issue.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Anything remotely transport related can be paid for from from the parking surplus. Don't be shy about using your Freedom pass.
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Brent, have the potholes been reported? (Below: a screengrab from the website FillThatHole)
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Consider the undiscovered work by the philosopher George Barclays-Bank, A Treatise Concerning the Potholes in Cavendish Road. "Surely," writes Barclays, "there is nothing easier to imagine. Potholes, for instance, in a road. But the potholes can only exist when perceived. And therefore are in the roadway no longer while there is nobody to perceive and report them to the local council."
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