RMBC among top councils for road resurfacing

RMBC is among the most prolific councils for resurfacing roads

RAC figures show that Rotherham resurfaced 5.7 per cent of its B, C and U roads – the so-called unclassified network – in the 2021/22 financial year.

Researchers also found that only Tower Hamlets did a larger proportion of resurfacing, at 13.8 per cent (21 miles of its 152-mile network), in that period.

Cllr Chris Read, the leader of Rotherham Council, said RMBC had made “a big commitment a few years ago to improve the quality of the borough’s roads”.

He added it was “great to see it come to fruition” after allocating and spending £24 million on – mostly – estate roads.

Cllr Read said: “At the last election Labour candidates promised to halve the number of potholes in Rotherham’s roads. We backed that commitment up with an additional £24 million of investment and hundreds of local roads have been resurfaced as a result.

“We knew that local estate roads were in the worst condition especially when compared to national averages which is why we needed to prioritise them, but these latest figures from the RAC also show us resurfacing more A roads than most other places as well.

“It’s really pleasing to see in these numbers that we’ve been able to do more than almost anywhere else in the country. In contrast, the Conservative government has repeatedly cut the national budget for road resurfacing.”

RAC’s 2021/2022 figures show just 1,123 miles of all types of road were resurfaced compared to 1,588 in 2017/2018 – this equates to a 29 per cent reduction (465 miles).

The figures come as the RAC renews its call for the government to change the way it funds local roads’ maintenance, ideally by ringfencing a proportion of the money raised through fuel duty to give councils the certainty of having longer-term funding that ultimately enables them to get all the roads in their control into a better overall condition.

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “These figures paint an incredibly stark picture of road maintenance in England and confirm our worst fears about the overall decline in the state of the country’s roads.”