Road nightmares a thing of the past as record funding used to banish pothole ghosts

Families across the country will be putting their final touches to their Halloween outfits today, whether they dress up as ghouls, goblins, ghosts, skeletons or vampires, as they get ready for the spookiest time of the year.

However, there has been one nightmare that has been causing motorists to come out in cold sweats, tossing and turning in bed as they fret over the hundreds of pounds of damage they are risking whenever their car, van or lorry goes straight into a pothole.

They have been haunting this country’s roads following over a decade of underinvestment but new pictures sent by councils are showing that the government is tackling the state of poor road surfaces.

Pictures provided by Cornwall and Wiltshire councils are showing that the government is turning this nightmare around with the images showing how the government’s record £7.3 billion funding is turning wrecked roads into smoother, safer surfaces.

Both councils are eligible to receive £383 million from the government for the next four years. Wiltshire is a green rated council according to the government’s RAG rating and while Cornwall is amber it scores green for the condition of its roads.

Just last week new transparency reports from local councils showed nearly £5 billion will be spent on tackling pesky pothole gremlins this year and is £800 million more than two years ago. This has allowed them to maintain thousands of miles of roads which is not just being spent on pothole fixes, but long term resurfacing too. 

Roads Minister, Justin Madders said: “I know first hand how much of a fright potholes can give people, and their wallets.  

“We are determined to end this living nightmare and these pictures from local authorities are clear evidence that our record £7.3 billion in funding is turning around the pothole plague and ending this horror story.

“With recent figures showing we are on track to maintain nearly 7,000 miles of roads across the country this year, equivalent to flying between London and Singapore, we are reversing over a decade of underinvestment into our roads.”