A refrain from municipal blackmailers is becoming ever more familiar on the airwaves:
“Oh dear. Oh dear. We don’t seem to be getting enough funding from central government. Given we have to maintain statutory services we will have to cut the non-statutory services. Terrible pity about all those potholes.”
It is outrageous, of course. First of all, council spending is going up. Last month, Michael Gove, the Levelling Up Secretary announced an extra £600 million. He said:
“Taking into account this new funding, local government in England will see an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £4.5 billion next year, or 7.5 per cent in cash terms, an above-inflation increase, rising from £60.2 billion in 2023-24 to up to £64.7 billion in 2024-25.”
Secondly, Gove is being unjustifiably generous with other people’s money. Councils are squandering the funding they already have on an appalling scale. Their residents know this. The councils know that their residents know this. That is why so many local authorities are increasing the Council Tax by 4.99 per cent. That is the maximum they are allowed without the consent of the electorate via a referendum – which they knew would not be forthcoming. Yet Gove continues to hand out crates of whisky to the alcoholics. (He did mention that he thought they might like to “reduce wasteful expenditure to ensure every area is making best use of taxpayers’ money. I encourage local authorities to consider whether expenditure on discredited equality, diversity and inclusion programmes meets this objective.” Good luck with that.)
But thirdly, even if councils genuinely did have to cut spending on filling potholes that would not be a justification for providing a worse service. The reason, which I have written about before, is a technological breakthrough which allows a dramatic improvement in efficiency. A new machine from JCB, called the PotholePro fixes a pothole in eight minutes – four times faster than existing methods. It also does it at half the cost. Most importantly the repair is also much more effective. Most councils have not bothered to use it despite a supposed legal requirement to achieve “best value.”
There is some progress. Stoke-on-Trent City Council have achieved seven years’ worth of pothole repairs in the first 12 months of owning a JCB PotholePro. Staffordshire County Council repaired over 16,000 potholes throughout 2023 using their PotholePro. Hertfordshire County Council have said they can repair an additional 20,000 potholes over the course of this year, with the addition of a JCB PotholePro to their fleet. Midlothian Council have permanently repaired over 1,900 potholes in the first six months since they started using one.
Some of the excuses for inertia are vanishing. For instance, the assumption that it would only be suited for wide rural roads rather than narrower residential urban terraced streets has been disproved. Another objection is to the upfront cost of buying a machine. But it can be leased. Last October, JCB announced:
“The biggest fleet of JCB Pothole Pros – a machine which fixes potholes in eight minutes flat – is set to hit the road in the UK after one of the country’s leading hirers placed a massive order for 50 machines. Commercial asset supplier Dawsongroup has already bought 11 JCB Pothole Pros – but all are now out on long-term hire with councils up and down the country, with more urgently needed. Demand for the machines is huge, especially given the Asphalt Industry Alliance’s (AIA) Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance survey estimating that there are a record £14 billion worth of outstanding road repairs in England and Wales – or a nine-year backlog.”
In December, Jonathan Gullis, the Conservative MP Stoke-on-Trent North, raised the issue in Parliament. Guy Opperman, the Roads Minister replied:
“We are also encouraging the use of new technologies into the market, one of which is the famous Pothole Pro that my hon. Friend mentioned, which was developed in his area. It is a genuinely innovative way ahead for dealing with this, and I greatly look forward to getting involved with it.”
JCB is exporting its PotholePro to New Zealand to an enthusiastic response. It’s also big in Barbados. Yet most councils here are still not using it.
Perhaps I should make clear to cynical readers at this point that I do not own shares in JCB and that I am pleased to see Essex County Council has been innovative using another firm:
“A new method of filling in potholes and cracks in roads that promises to be greener and quicker is being trialled by Essex Highways in Colchester and Tendring.
“Currently, potholes and cracks are repaired by cutting out the surrounding road surface before fresh hot asphalt is poured into the defect and compacted to fix it. This could include removing any previously applied material to make the defect safe.
“Roadmender Asphalt, based in Sheffield, has developed a technique that no longer requires roads to be dug up. This potentially improves productivity by increasing the number of defects that can be fixed. It also reduces the need to dig roads where utility pipes and cables are located.”
So there are a growing number of success stories. The general situation remains indefensible. The lazy way for councils to cut spending is just not to fill the potholes. The cost to motorists in repairing their vehicles is huge – not to mention the cost to the NHS of treating cyclists injured as a result of potholes. If voters complain then councillors blame the Government for not handing over more money. Highways officers and the contractors they use are not incentivised to innovate.
This needless delay is a scandal. It is welcome that Opperman looks forward “to getting involved with” this new technology which could be transformational for the condition of our roads while easing the pressure on Council Taxpayers. But encouraging words are not enough. He must write to the highways authorities that are failing to use modern technology challenging them on their failure to meet their “best value” obligations. If they are unwilling or unable to sort it out, then Opperman should send in teams to do it for them.