‘National disgrace’: pothole repair backlog hits record £18.6bn in England and Wales

A losing battle with potholes has now seen the backlog of repairs across England and Wales reach a record £18.6bn, according to an annual industry estimate, despite councils filling in about 1.9m holes last year.The “national disgrace” of dangerously pockmarked local roads has been exacerbated by a notably wet winter, with only half of the network now reported to be in good condition.The report, published by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), suggests that new holes may have expensively sprung up faster than additional government money can be sunk into the tarmac.The estimated cost of a one-off repair of all potholes has risen by £1.8bn since 2025, despite the government allocating £1.6bn last year, an additional £500m, to help local authorities fix their roads.David Giles, the chair of the AIA, said: “I think all road users would agree that the condition of our local roads has become a national disgrace.”He said its reports over the past decade showed the money needed to fully repair local roads had increased dramatically, adding: “The impact of frequent adverse weather events on a consistently underfunded – and increasingly fragile – network [is] coming home to roost.”He warned that it would be “some time before the impact of increased funding levels, if fully delivered, will be noticed by the public”.The AA president, Edmund King, said the report “starkly warns us how much more needs to be done to eradicate this plague of potholes”.“We have been seeing with our own eyes, and feeling with our wheels, how record wet weather linked to substandard roads has led to many local roads becoming patchwork obstacle courses,” he said.The RAC head of policy, Simon Williams, said roads were “in a woeful state of disrepair – something that’s been even more noticeable since the beginning of the year with our teams receiving hundreds of breakdown reports every day mentioning potholes”.The safety charity IAM RoadSmart’s director of policy, Nicholas Lyes, said: “About one in six local roads are effectively on life support with less than five years of structural integrity remaining. We need a long-term approach that invests in proper surface maintenance, rather than the all too often ‘patch and dash’ repairs that crumble at the first sign of bad weather.”A Department for Transport spokesperson said the report “rightly highlights the need to improve our roads. That’s why, after years of underinvestment, we’re providing a record £7.3bn in long-term funding, to help councils resurface roads and fix the pothole plague.”They said there were signs of progress, with 15% more pothole-prevention works carried out in 2025 compared with 2024, as well as a new ratings system monitoring how money was spent. They added: “We will hold councils to account, ensuring they use this money to plan ahead and deliver safer, smoother journeys.”Spring can frequently reveal potholes in full bloom, with the holes habitually formed over winter as rain enters cracks in road surfaces before freezing when temperatures drop, expanding and creating bigger cracks.A separate survey by KwikFit said the cost of pothole damage to UK drivers had also peaked at a record £1.8bn over the past 12 months. It also found that the condition of the roads had prompted 2.5 million drivers to buy a bigger car or SUV, more able to cope with bumps but also more likely to intensify the damage to road surfaces.