The second meeting of the year saw Rick Green, Chair of the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), set out a review of the Pothole Action Fund. He highlighted that various data sources indicate that it was an effective funding mechanism which contributed to a demonstrable improvement in the structural conditions of the local road network. 

Rick described how, between 2015/2016 – 2020/21, the lifetime of the Pothole Action Fund, 12,319 more miles of local road (or 7% of the local road network) were classified as being in a good structural condition. (i.e. having more than 15 years of residual life), than before the fund was introduced. In the same period, the cost of bringing the local road network up to a position where it could be maintained cost effectively going forward plateaued, as did the reported annual shortfall in carriageway maintenance budgets. 

Rick concluded that the Pothole Action Fund provided local authorities with a secure funding stream that enabled planned capital works to tackle the backlog of repairs. This helped to reduce the level of more expensive reactive maintenance required and contributed to improved structural conditions. 

A discussion among those present within the group, which is chaired by Sir Christopher Chope OBE MP, followed. It was agreed that the secretariat would develop Rick’s findings into a discussion paper for possible publication by the APPG in 2023.

Minutes for the meeting can be found here

To request a copy of For full details of Rick Green’s presentation email the APPG secretariat