Welsh Government will begin repairing some 30,000 potholes on 62 miles of motorways and main roads in April, but it’s already been criticised as inadequate.
The £25 million announced to repair roads across Wales does not represent the longer-term strategy and funding model needed to reinforce the UK’s transport infrastructure, according to business group Logistics UK.
Speaking after the announcement, the organisation’s Policy Manager for Wales Josh Fenton said, “Potholes cost the UK’s economy over £14.4 billion a year, largely because of longer journey times as drivers attempt to limit damage to their vehicles, so any additional funding to address this problem is welcome.
“However, rather than piecemeal allocations of funding that create a stop-start mentality and ongoing interruptions to the transport network through short term repairs, a longer-term strategy and funding model is needed to enable long-term maintenance programmes to be put in place.”
Josh added, “Our roads have fallen into such a state of disrepair as a result of this short-term attitude – it is essential that the new investment and repair programme is employed swiftly to stop problems getting worse, while longer term solutions can be found and implemented.”
The funding boost will see an extra 62 miles of the strategic road network resurfaced in the new financial year. Roads that are most in need of repairs will be renewed, with thousands of potholes fixed.
Since 2021 the Welsh Government has spent more than £81m on resurfacing around 200 miles of roads on the trunk network across Wales. Combined with the forecasted spend for 2025-26 this means that by the end of this Senedd term £118m will have been spent to repair more than 370 miles of road defects and potholes.
Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales Ken Skates said, ” It is crucial that we fix our roads. I’m delighted to be announcing a further £25m of funding to help support a comprehensive refurbishment programme to improve the future resilience of our strategic roads network and prevent potholes.
“We are already working hard to fill potholes and renew, as fast as possible, key sections of our road network, but this additional funding will help to accelerate this work.”
Mr Skates has also pledged to announce details of new financial support for councils to fix more local roads. Details of the scale of support are due to be revealed in the coming weeks and will help fix potholes across Wales.
