Eurobitume in joint campaign to improve local road maintenance in the UK
In pursuit of our mission ‘to educate and promote the efficient, economic, effective, safe and sustainable use of refined bitumen in road, industrial and building applications’, in the UK, Eurobitume partners the Mineral Products Association (MPA) – via the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA).
The key aim of the AIA is to keep roads funding on the policy agenda and each year
it carries out the Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey to provide a detailed picture of the condition of the local road network in England and Wales.
Misery continues for road users in the UK as repair backlog reaches new heights
This year’s ALARM report, the 30th, revealed the backlog of carriageway repairs in England and Wales has reached almost £17 billion (€20.25 billion). Additionally, more than half (52%) of the local road network was reported to have less than 15 years’ structural life remaining and, on average, local roads are only surfaced once every 93 years.
The report also revealed that in the 2024-25 financial year:
- Local authorities would have needed an extra £7.4 million each last year to maintain their network to their own target conditions and prevent further deterioration.
- Just 1.5% of the local road network was resurfaced.
- 1.9 million potholes were filled, at a cost of £137.4 million.
AIA Chair David Giles said: “Despite more than £20 billion having been spent on carriageway maintenance in England and Wales over the last decade, partly due to the short-term nature of the allocation of funding there has been no quantifiable uplift in the condition and resilience of the network.”
ALARM 2025 also showed that:
- £16.81 billion is now required, as a one-off, for local authorities to bring the network up to their ‘ideal’ conditions.
- 24,400 miles (12%) of the network are likely to need some form of maintenance in the next 12 months.
The AIA’s ALARM 2025 report can be downloaded here.
