The declining state of England’s local roads is now a national embarrassment as a multibillion-pound repair backlog grows, MPs have warned.

Estimates show that the condition of local roads is worsening, as public satisfaction falls and pothole-related incidents rise

With the cost of pothole damage to vehicles at a new high, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has called out the Department for Transport (DfT) “for not taking its responsibilities and use of public money on local roads sufficiently seriously”.

The committee also said the Government had accepted that the condition of roads has deteriorated – while admitting it does not know enough to understand what state roads are in due to poor data.

The Public Accounts Committee examines the value for money of government projects, programmes and service delivery, drawing on the work of the National Audit Office (NAO).

Newly published findings from a PAC inquiry held late in 2024 reveal that government data shows the condition of local roads as stable – despite industry estimates showing that the condition of local roads is worsening, as public satisfaction falls and pothole-related incidents rise.

The DfT last estimated, in 2019, that it would cost between £7.6bn and £11.7bn to fix the nation’s road. But the 2024 Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) report published by the Asphalt Industry Alliance found that it would now cost more than £16bn to tackle the backlog of repairs across England and Wales.

With information only collected on unclassified roads on a voluntary basis from local authorities, the DfT admitted to PAC that its data is not good enough. The inquiry also heard that local authorities may be doing just enough maintenance work to keep their roads from being rated ‘red’.

Over £1bn a year goes to local authorities as part of the Government’s funding to maintain local roads – but the PAC’s inquiry found that the DfT neither knows exactly how local authorities spend its funding as it is not ring-fenced, nor what it wants to achieve with it. The report further warns that funding is not being targeted at where it is most needed. The DfT does not take into account traffic volumes, underlying road condition or local environmental conditions such as whether a road is prone to flooding.

The DfT acknowledged that its data in some areas is poor and that it does not fully understand the condition of local roads in England. It is therefore implementing new data standards – PAS 2161 – with the aim of improving the quality and granularity of the data that it gathers from local authorities, although this will not be mandatory until April 2026.

The inquiry also spotlighted that central government’s funding approach incentivises councils towards short-term repairs rather than prevention – which the DfT admitted is not best value for money.

The report calls on Government to simplify its funding to local authorities (currently given through 12 different funding pots), and to provide longer-term certainty on the amount and duration of funding.

It also says that more support and guidance must be provided to local authorities to deal with current and future challenges in maintaining local roads, in particular on how best to support safety and accessibility for all road users.

Looking ahead, the Government should also be considering how best to manage and prepare for technology advances such as autonomous vehicles and the effect of maintenance on roads and bridges of heavier electric heavy goods vehicles.

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, chair of the committee, said: “As well as harming the prospects for our economy and communities’ own social wellbeing, highways riddled with potholes pose an increasing safety threat to road users. Alarmingly, however, not only is the state of our local roads on the downslope, our inquiry shows government are having to find out about these issues from industry bodies and road users themselves due to their own patchy data.

“This committee has long raised concerns around a failure across government departments to effectively fund and plan for the future, a theme that is certainly on show here, along with an overly tangled web of accountability.”

The findings from the inquiry have been published after last month’s government announcement of a record £1.6bn investment to fill potholes and repair roads across England for 2025/26. The figure includes the £500m uplift pledged in the Autumn Budget and is up nearly 50% on local road maintenance funding from last year. Announcing the figures, the DfT said 25% of funds would be withheld until local authorities prove they are delivering more proactive maintenance and getting away from the ‘patchwork’ approach.

Commenting on the PAC inquiry, the DfT said it would consider the report’s recommendations carefully and respond in the usual way in due course.

A spokesperson added: “For far too long our roads have been left to crumble, and this report has laid bare the result of the decades of decline we have inherited in our road infrastructure.

“That’s why we’re investing a record £1.6bn for the coming year to help local authorities fix up to seven million more potholes.

“Road users are rightly frustrated by patch work repairs, so we are also committed to multi-year funding settlements to enable councils to better maintain their road networks and avoid potholes forming in the first place.”

Earlier this week, motoring organisations revealed their own data on the crumbling state of the nation’s roads to mark National Pothole Day (15 January).

Data from the RAC shows that pothole-related breakdowns jumped by almost a fifth (17%) in the final three months of 2024 compared to the previous quarter.

The AA’s Pothole Index statistics revealed that the number of pothole-related incidents attended by its patrols in 2024 was down 0.7% on 2023. But the average cost of repairs rose from £250 to £300, pushing the annual bill up to £579m in 2024, compared to £474m in 2023, due to inflation, delays in the parts supply chain and more advanced technology within cars.

Commenting on the PAC inquiry, Edmund King, AA president, said: “This report reinforces many things the AA has been calling for. We have highlighted the need for longer-term, ring-fenced investment using innovation and technology to permanently repair local roads rather than the short-term patchwork approach.”

King said the committee was right to highlight the inconsistency of councils inspecting and repairing the highway and warned that whilst funding shouldn’t just be based on length of roads, the Government should also ensure extra funding isn’t just given to failing highway authorities who continue to get it wrong.

He added: “The PAC report says the Department for Transport should take overall responsibility for policy and use of taxpayer funds sufficiently seriously but seems to have overlooked the important role of private contractors who sit in a position of almost total control over nearly 60% of the local roads.

“It is a concern that data in some areas is so poor that the condition of local roads is not fully understood. However, the new data standards will not be mandatory until April 2026. All road users deserve a much better service from our local road network.”

Full inquiry info, including evidence received, can be found here.