Government’s £1.6bn pothole pledge not enough to repair roads– Zurich

Zurich Municipal has warned that the additional £1.6bn Labour pledged to fix potholes is not enough to repair the local road network.

The insurer said that local authorities face a backlog of more than 38,000 potholes to repair from 2024. It also estimated that £2.6m worth of damage was caused to vehicles last year.

In turn, ahead of the spending review, Zurich Municipal is calling for the government to increase local authorities’ funding to improve the local road network.

The insurer estimated that £15.6bn was needed for repairs and that local authorities should have flexibility to use the budget to prioritise repairs where they are needed most.

Alix Bedford, risk expert at Zurich Municipal, said: “While the additional funding that government pledged at the end of last year is a step in the right direction, councils need a lot more funding so that they are not just repairing the current cavities in the roads to make them safer for all users, but also investing in the network so it doesn’t deteriorate as much in the first place.”

How do potholes form?

A pothole can form from general wear and tear or when water leaks into cracks and freezes in cold temperatures.

When the weather starts to get warmer, the frozen water evaporates leaving gaps in the road.

These gaps get continuously bigger as more and more vehicles drive over them. Intense variations in weather is also playing a role in declining road conditions.

Zurich Municipal said motorists are most likely to hit a defect in the road in the first quarter of the year, as the insurer handled more than 5,000 claims for damage to tyres, alloys and car suspensions during this period last year.

“March is the most common month for motorists to flag pothole prangs to councils,” Zurich Municipal said.

“In fact, Zurich handled more than 2,300 claims for damage to vehicles during this month last year, a 181% spike.”

Bedford added: “We’ve had a particularly wet start to the year, which is only going to exacerbate the pothole problem that is plaguing the nation.”