Recommendation 7

Local authority budgets for road maintenance are stretched thin; they can ill afford the expense of making good reinstatements which are not up to scratch. We note the concern about increasing costs being reflected in utility bills, but there is a balance to be struck: good quality road and pavement surfaces are also in consumers’ interests. A two-year guarantee for a publicly-maintained asset is inadequate, especially since reinstatements which meet the standards tend to last more than ten years. (Conclusion, Paragraph 37)