14 October 2013
The APPG has launched its report calling for urgent action to counteract the deterioration of local roads. In the report, ‘managing a valuable asset: improving local road condition’ the Group draws on its understanding of how this situation has arisen and what can be done to rectify it.
Local roads are vital to everyone’s daily lives and account for more than 95 per cent of the country’s network. The responsibility for a safe and efficient local road network lies with councils, whose service is funded both centrally and locally.
If action is not taken quickly, the expense of not doing so will continue to rise as roads require more serious structural repair, complete replacement or even closure. We need planned, preventative maintenance over the long term in order to bring our roads into a satisfactory steady state. This will require both more funding and more secure funding for periodic and structural maintenance, along with more efficient use of funding through asset management principals.