The West Midlands £1.94 billion pothole plague and what's been done to tackle it
A new survey has found that West Midlands councils face a £1.94 billion backlog of repairs to fix potholes and cracked roads
Transport bosses have vowed to continue tackling the pothole plague in the wake of a report suggesting funding is inadeqaute to tackle the problem in the West Midlands.
The latest Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey has revealed councils in the region face a £1.94 billion backlog of carriageway repairs to fix potholes and cracked roads.
The survey, commissioned by the Asphalt Industry Alliance, also said only 46 per cent of the local road network is reported to be in good condition.
The Government allocated £7.3 billion for road maintenance between 2026/27 and 2029/30, including £1.6 billion for 2025/26 to fix potholes and resurface roads.
But the survey said, despite an increase in budgets, each council would have needed an extra £117 million last year to maintain their network to their own target conditions and prevent further decline.
During a visit to Birmingham, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: “The Labour Government is doubling the amount of money available to councils to repair potholes and fix our broken roads.
“We gave an additional £500 million in this financial year taking the amount to £1.6 billion.
“There has been a decade of underinvestment under the previous Conservative Government and it is going to take time to fix.
“We’ve seen biblical levels of rain at the beginning of this year. That has had an impact on the quality of local road services.
“We’ve given that extra money and we’re also making sure councils spend that money wisely.
“Get it right first time, don’t have the contractors having to come back to it but also invest in sensible things like preventative road resurfacing which can offer better value for money in the long term.”
Last month, West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker doubled funding to make £240 million available to Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton to cover highways maintenance for five years from April 2027.
He said: “We continue to invest in our transport network across this region, we’ve got additional funds – twice what we’ve had before – to address the regional problem of potholes that blight people’s journeys everyday.
“We are taking a very holistic approach to addressing our transport issues. We’re investing in our buses, our rail network and we’re investing in our Metro too.
“The Government have allocated £2.4 billion to address my strategic transporty priorities in the region – that’s a great settlement. It’s more than we’ve ever had before.
“I will continue to work with thew Government and our local council partners to make sure every part of our transport system works for the people who live there.
“We want the roads to be safe for people to travel on. We’ve allocated twice as much as we have had previously to address potholes.
“I’m now working on big strategic infrastructure developments to improve connectivity across the region.”
Birmingham City Council’s road repairs are funded through a separate private finance initiative process.
