Only a “slither” of England’s total local road network received maintenance attention last year as councils focused instead on fixing potholes.

The RAC said most councils are “in a cycle of merely filling potholes”, rather than looking after their roads properly

Just 3% of England’s 183,054-mile council-run road network were maintained in the last 2023/24 financial year – up on the previous year but showing a steep decline in the long term, according to the new analysis by the RAC.

In total, 4,894 miles of all road types were strengthened, resurfaced or preserved in 2023/24, up by 18% or 750 miles on 2022/23 when 4,144 miles of roads were improved.

But it’s a sharp fall from 2017/18 when 7,510 miles of roads were maintained – the drop of 2,616 miles to 2023/24 represents a 35% decline.

And only 5% (817 miles) of the country’s 17,860 miles of A-roads were strengthened, resurfaced or preserved in the last financial year; down by a third (33%) from the 1,222 maintained six years before.

The percentage of minor roads given attention is even smaller – just 2% (4,080 miles) of the 165,195 miles of minor roads in England were maintained in the last 2023/24 financial year.

The data from the RAC comes hot on the heels of new figures showing the repair backlog for local roads in England and Wales has now reached almost £17bn, up from £16.3bn a year ago.

Published in March, the 2025 Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey from the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) found that £16.8bn is now reported to be required, as a one-off, for local authorities to bring the network up to their ‘ideal’ conditions.

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said most councils are “in a cycle of merely filling potholes”, rather than looking after their roads properly.

“The longer important preservation work, such as surface dressing, is neglected, the more the pothole problem prevails. With a third of councils failing to carry out any such work, it’s no surprise that RAC pothole-related breakdowns jumped by a fifth in the final three months of 2024.”

The RAC’s research follows the Government’s funding allocation of £1.6bn for councils to fix potholes – the biggest one-off road maintenance settlement councils in England have ever received.

RAC’s Simon Williams said drivers in England would hopefully see a significant improvement in the quality of road surfaces in the next 12 months due to the extra funding.

“We encourage local authorities to focus on permanent solutions rather than trying to patch pothole-ridden roads that are beyond saving. This might include resurfacing or alternatives such as recycling existing materials in-situ. Surface dressing roads in better condition is also important as it ensures they stay that way for longer.

“We strongly hope the next set of figures will show we’ve finally turned a corner towards smoother, safer, better roads.”

Mike Hansford, chief executive of the Road Surface Treatments Association, said a preventative maintenance approach would keep roads in good condition for longer and would allow local authorities to treat more of their road networks.

“Preventative road surface treatments offer councils a cost-effective and lower-carbon approach to managing road assets through their lifecycle. If you invested in most other assets, you would invest in periodic treatments to keep that asset in good condition to achieve optimum performance. An asphalt road should be no different.”