The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Huge cost of road repairs could lead to departmental shake-up
REPORT: Retaining 33 roads authorities ‘unsustainable’
A radical shake-up of the way Scotland’s roads are repaired is being considered as transport chiefs admit they do not have enough cash to deal with a £1.2 billion pothole backlog.
Fed up motorists are reporting hundreds of holes to councils every day, with the recent cold snap worsening the state of roads across the country.
A report from a Scottish Government taskforce, the Road Maintenance Strategic Action Group chaired by Transport Minister Humza Yousaf, says money for repairing roads has dropped by 26% over the last five years and brands spending on national highways as “not sufficient”.
Significantly, the report warns the scale of the country’s £1.2bn pothole backlog means retaining 33 roads authorities “is likely to be unsustainable”.
Mr Yousaf signed off publication of the report, along with local authority umbrella group Cosla, so the intervention opens the door for the merging of council roads departments, with any cash saved ploughed into repairing the creaking transport network.
Neil Greig, director of policy and research at road safety charity IAM RoadSmart, said: “This is another depressing report on the state of Scotland’s roads and backs up what I hear from IAM members – our roads have never been in such a bad state.
“I almost feel sorry for the engineers who have to watch as their roads are pulverised by the triple whammy of bad weather, increasing traffic and decreasing budgets”.
RAC spokesman Rod Dennis said: “We have sympathy for councils which are in an impossible position by having to do more with shrinking budgets.
“But with the standard of some of Scotland’s roads so poor, not committing money to fix them now is saving up problems for the future.”
Luke Bosdet, spokesman for the AA, pointed out the public purse is raking in tens of millions a year in parking charges and fines.
He said: “These councils have made massive hauls from traffic enforcement and now it’s time to spend these huge amounts of money on filling potholes.”
Scottish Labour’s rural economy spokesman Colin Smyth MSP said: “Local authorities have been forced to pass on SNP Government cuts by slashing the road maintenance budget by 21% since 2011, while staff morale is at rock bottom. The reality is this situation will only get worse.”
A spokesman for Transport Scotland said: “The budget for maintenance of the network has increased by around £65 million to £433m for 2018/2019.
“The Audit Scotland report says 87% of trunk roads are in acceptable condition, despite several severe winters and significant financial constraints facing the Scottish Government.
“Since 2007 over £8.2 billion has been invested in our motorways and trunk road network.”