The Government is to crack down on companies for creating a “Plague of Potholes.”

Surface Repair
The Government is to crack down on companies for creating a “Plague of Potholes.”

The UK government has announced measures to penalise companies responsible for leaving potholes on roads after street work.

Motorists across the UK will benefit from smoother journeys, better-connected communities, and reduced congestion. The government introduces new actions to penalise businesses responsible for leaving potholes on the country’s highways after carrying out street works.

It is likely the new law change could prevent thousands of potholes from being left behind by utility businesses nationwide and will confirm more roads are resurfaced to an extremely high standard. This will spare motorists from damage to their car tyres or suspensions which is caused by driving over potholes within the roads, helping them save money on pricey vehicle repairs.

A new performance-based inspections administration will be introduced, where the worst performing utility businesses whose road works fail to meet strict standards will face financial consequences. Local authorities will inspect these companies more regularly to ensure their work meets rigorous criteria and they leave roads in good condition.

While most companies carry out street works to a high standard and pass inspections, utility companies are on average failing 9% of the assessments that are carried out, and the worst-performing utility company is failing a significant 63% of its assessments.

The new regime will support the government's assurance to improving transport and infrastructure at a local level. This will ensure people across the country can more easily access local work, education and opportunities while reducing car maintenance costs.

Plans were unveiled on May 14th that will also help telecom operator's rollout broadband nationwide and to ease congestion by instructing live updates on roadworks are improved.

The Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said this:

“The plague of potholes is the menace of our roads. That is why I am ensuring companies who create them and leave roads in a poor state can be held to account more easily – protecting drivers from unfair repair costs.”

“We’ve already invested billions of pounds into roads maintenance, helping local authorities keep their highways well maintained and I’ll continue working to make sure all road-users around the country can enjoy the safe, world-class infrastructure they deserve.”

This move follows the governments investment in more than £5 billion from 2020 to 2025 into highway maintenance, including the Potholes Fund, announced in Budget 2020. This funding settlement lets local authorities to put effective plans together for managing their roads and is sufficient to fill millions of potholes a year, repair dozens of bridges, and resurface roads up and down the country.

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