A new survey has revealed underfunding, severe weather and increased traffic levels are affecting road network resilience in England and Wales.

The Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey has indicated a further decline lies ahead unless further government funding is provided.

Despite a £6 billion local road maintenance investment between 2015 and 2021, research reveals highways departments are yet to feel the benefits as overall budgets have declined 16%.

In addition, average budget shortfalls have increased by almost 50% from £3.2 million last year to £4.6 million.

While the number of filled potholes has declined, over 2 million are still yet to be repaired. A third of survey respondents also had to cope with unforeseen costs (primarily due to adverse weather).

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Overall, the amount council's need to bring their roads up to standard is £12 billion.

Asphalt Industry Alliance chairman Alan Mackenzie said: "The network is ageing and the cumulative effect of decades of underfunding is continuing to take its toll. Add in the impacts of flooding and increased traffic and you start to appreciate the scale of the problem our local authorities are facing.

"Local authorities continue to face increasing pressure on resources but now have better processes and a more focused preventative approach.

"The adoption of highways asset management plans for example is allowing them to work smarter with less money.

"However, our roads are deteriorating at a faster rate than they can be repaired and more significant problems for the future are building unseen below the surface.

"It is clear that there is still not enough money available to tackle the backlog of repairs needed to get our road network back into anything approaching a reasonable condition."

(LM)