Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
2nd Report - Condition and maintenance of Local Roads in England
Public Accounts Committee
HC 349
Published 17 January 2025
Recommendations
25
Deferred
Road funding allocation formula does not consider road condition, traffic volume, or environmental factors.
Recommendation
The Department does not base funding allocation on other information, such as the condition of roads nor on factors that could have led to a deterioration in the condition of roads such as traffic volume, type of traffic or environmental …
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Government Response Summary
The government disagrees with the committee's implied recommendation for immediate change but agrees to review the funding formula to better reflect road wear and tear. They state no changes can be committed to until feasibility is assessed, with the earliest implementation for financial year 2026-27.
HM Treasury
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Conclusions (3)
4
Conclusion
Deferred
The Department does not allocate funding to local authorities for the maintenance of local roads according to where it is most needed. The Department provides most of its funding to local authorities based on road length, number of bridges, and number of lighting columns in a local authority. It does …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees but only addresses the second part of the recommendation, stating that Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) receipts can already be spent on infrastructure. It commits to exploring better communication about existing CIL funding and its potential uses, rather than exploring new scope for surplus CIL specifically on local road maintenance. The first part of the recommendation (revising funding allocation based on wear and tear) is not addressed.
24
Conclusion
Deferred
Most of the Department’s funding to local authorities over the last decade has been through the eight funding pots that use road network length as the main basis for allocations. The mechanism for these pots uses simple data sets to allocate funding, weighted between road length (82.4%), the number of …
Government Response Summary
The government disagreed with the implicit recommendation to change the funding formula but agreed to review it for fairness, stating it cannot commit to changes until assessments are complete and the earliest implementation would be financial year 2026-27.
26
Conclusion
Deferred
We asked the Department whether it considers where investment could have the greatest impact and why a factor such as traffic volume has not been included.52 The Department said that arguments for including other factors are often made, and that its last consultation on this subject was some time ago, …
Government Response Summary
The government states it disagrees with the committee's recommendation (interpreted as an immediate call to include specific factors) but agrees to review the funding formula to better reflect conditions affecting wear and tear, with any changes taking effect from 2026-27 after feasibility assessment.