Anecdotal evidence, however, suggests that part of the problem seems to be the use of cheap fillers by private contractors to fill potholes which ‘gets ripped out the first time a bus or a heavy lorry drives over it’. The private contractors can then get paid a second time to fill the pothole their own filler has created. Despite the increased number of potholes, the number of potholes mended in England and Wales has fallen from 1.7 million in 2022 to 1.4 million in 20235. Tarmac have claim to have mended 2 million in 2024, which if consistent with previous figures suggests an improvement6 and (see below) is backed up by the ALARM survey. The ALARM survey is an annual survey of potholes carried out by the Asphalt Industry Alliance. The most recent ALARM survey makes two points: the money spent on filling potholes and the number of potholes filled have largely recovered on an annual basis from the huge cuts in spending during the Covid and post Covid era. Figure 1 Figure 1 from Page 9 of the ALARM survey shows that spending on potholes is back (in nominal terms) to its 2015 level. In real terms, using the ONS’s Construction Output Price Index for non housing repair and maintenance7 to deflate the figures, this equates to a fall of 20.9% over the 5 Source: RAC pothole report 6 The ALARM SURVEY claims 1.985 million potholes filled by local authorities in 2023/24. https://www.asphaltuk.org/wp-content/uploads/ALARM_Survey_2024.pdf 7 https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/constructionindustry/datasets/interimconstructionou tputpriceindices/current
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODMyMDY=