Lib Dems pledge to spend £300m on filling 1.2 million potholes a year

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

The Liberal Democrats have pledged to spend £300 million over the next Parliament to fill 1.2 million potholes a year.

The party said the UK is facing a “pothole postcode lottery”, with some councils taking up to 18 months to fix a pothole in their area.

Under the proposals, money will be redirected from the existing road-building budget to pay for the improvements.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: “The Conservatives have driven us down a motorway of decay – roads are crumbling and motorists are suffering as a result.

“The Conservatives have overseen cuts to our transport network, maintenance works delays and the decline in the state of our roads. For all of their lip service to motorists, it’s clear the Conservatives have failed them.

“Only the Liberal Democrats have a real plan to fix the state of our roads by giving the money to local councils, who know their roads and are best placed to fix them.”

Westminster City Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council took more than 18 months to fix a pothole in their area, a freedom of information (FOI) request by the party revealed.

Meanwhile, Surrey County Council took 207 days to fix a pothole, and Hertfordshire County Council took 90 days, according to the FOI.

The Labour Party has previously committed to fixing one million potholes a year, funded by deferring the A27 bypass and instead spending the £320 million on repairs across the country.