by Matthew Bowles, strategic partnerships manager at the Institute of Economic Affairs
Potholes have quietly become the tyrants of Britain’s roads – multiplying faster than they’re mended, swallowing tyres, and turning mild-mannered motorists into furious fender-benders. Once a symbol of minor inconvenience, potholes have become a totem of local authority mismanagement and a daily hazard for millions of motorists. What was once a bump in the road is now a bump to the economy, costing drivers dearly and exposing the systemic failure of infrastructure management in the UK.
The problem is no longer anecdotal; however, it’s mathematical. The latest Alarm Survey by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) places the cost of fixing England and Wales’s deteriorating roads at almost £17 billion. This figure refers not to patchwork repairs, but to the complete structural maintenance needed across 34,000 miles of local roads – an area roughly equivalent to circling the globe 1.5 times. Put simply, it’s not a few rogue roads; it’s a national infrastructure backlog.
In the meantime, motorists are left to suffer the consequences. In 2024, damage caused by potholes is estimated to have cost UK drivers £1.7 billion, with the average repair costing £144 (up from £120 the previous year), according to data from repair company Kwik Fit. The most frequent damage involves punctured tyres, but the real costs escalate quickly with more serious faults – buckled wheels, broken suspension systems, and cracked alloys. These are not cosmetic issues. They’re structural, expensive, and often dangerous.
While local authorities are theoretically liable for damage resulting from poor road maintenance, very few motorists receive adequate compensation. A Freedom of Information request by the RAC found that only 15 per cent of pothole damage claims were upheld by 18 local authorities surveyed in 2023, despite the number of claims more than doubling from the year before.
Some councils are rejecting virtually every claim that comes through the door. Gloucestershire County Council rejected 98 per cent of pothole-related damage claims; Essex County Council was close behind at 95 per cent. The RAC notes that even when compensation is paid, it often falls short of the actual cost: the average council payout is adequate enough for a minor repair, but not for more serious cases, leaving the individual motorist has to make up the difference.
What’s even more galling is that this isn’t just about money—it’s about safety. The IAM RoadSmart Safety Culture Report (2022) highlighted that nearly 80 per cent of drivers viewed potholes as a more serious problem than they had three years prior. This ranked them above speeding and drink driving in terms of perceived danger. Swerving to avoid a crater in the road isn’t just bad for your tyres, it’s a recipe for serious accidents.
Despite this growing crisis, public investment has remained piecemeal and poorly targeted. The 2024 Autumn Budget included a pledge by Chancellor Rachel Reeves to allocate £500 million for fixing one million potholes. While the headline figure may sound bold, it doesn’t come close to the figure required. £17 billion – the estimated cost to bring roads up to standard – is 34 times higher than the current government commitment.
Of course, many will claim there simply isn’t enough money. Ultimately, it shouldn’t be necessary for the national government to fill gaps in funding. A solution to this issue may be to allow local governments to raise their own taxes, devolving a part of income tax to the local level, for example.
But the argument of lack of funds doesn’t stand up to scrutiny when you follow the paper trail. Local councils are just frequently mismanaged.
Examples of local government waste are abundant. £2 million on free cycle lessons for adults, £5 million on socially distanced approved “parklets”, and £52 million on equality, diversity and inclusion roles, to name just a few.
Woking Borough Council is on track to amass £2.4 billion in debt by 2026 after engaging in risky investments. Thurrock Council borrowed £655 million to invest in the solar power market. Meanwhile, London councils are sitting on a £130 million carbon offset fund from developers, unused, unallocated, and apparently untouched. This is all while infrastructure like road surfaces go neglected.
Even beyond these headline failures, the issue is priorities. Taxpayers have seen councils allocate millions towards “visionary” projects, redundant public engagement exercises, and ballooning bureaucracies. There’s always money for more consultants or community murals, but not enough to maintain the roads we rely on daily. For many motorists, it feels as if local government is playing SimCity while the real streets fall apart.
There is also an accountability gap. Councils can reject pothole damage claims with impunity, safe in the knowledge that individual drivers lack the time or legal muscle to challenge the decisions. The process for compensation is convoluted, opaque, and largely fruitless – an unspoken policy of discouragement by complexity.
This is a matter of public infrastructure, but also of public trust. Road maintenance is one of the most basic and visible responsibilities of the local government. When roads are left to decay, it sends a clear message: taxpayers are paying more and getting less.
So, what is the solution? One answer is a rebalancing of priorities. Local authorities must shift from vanity projects and bureaucratic sprawl to core infrastructure. The national government must hold local authorities accountable not just for how much they spend but also for what they spend it on.
A second is streamlined and standardised compensation systems for any pothole damage. If councils continue to reject claims at a near-universal rate, the theoretical right to compensation is meaningless.
Finally, there must be transparency in road maintenance planning. Taxpayers deserve to know how much is being spent, where, and why. Transparent reporting of backlogs, budgets, and project timelines should be the norm, not the exception.
Because ultimately, this isn’t just about potholes. It’s about accountability and councils correctly spending taxpayers’ money on worthwhile, necessary expenditure items. Until local authorities and central government alike start treating potholes as the national menace they’ve become, British motorists will continue to pay the price, one repair bill at a time.
A shorter version of this piece featured on The Daily Express Online. Etc etc