Written question asked by Claire Curtis-Thomas (Labour) on Wednesday, 9 July 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 14 July 2003. It was answered by David Jamieson (Labour) on Monday, 14 July 2003 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Dept for Transport

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the backlog of road maintenance is in England; what estimate he has made of the total cost of the local road maintenance backlog. - Inc figures.

Answer: Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what the backlog of road maintenance is in England; [125514] (2) what estimate he has made of the total cost of the local road maintenance backlog. [125710] Mr. Jamieson: There is not a backlog of maintenance on motorways and trunk roads in England. On local roads the maintenance backlogs were estimated in 2000 as £2 billion on carriageways and footways, £750 million on bridges and other structures, and £1 billion on street lighting. Since then the Department, through the Roads Liaison Group, has been developing better inventory systems and condition indicators that will allow more accurate and up to date estimates to be made of backlogs. The Government is committed in the 10 Year Plan for Transport to tackling all the backlogs in local road maintenance by 2010 and is providing £31 billion of funding over the Plan's period for this purpose.

Secondary information