Council spent "notably less" on carriageway repairs, says FSB

Potholes

Rochdale Borough Council was one of two councils in Greater Manchester to spend "notably less" on carriageway repairs in 2014/15 compared to the previous year, says the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).

Rochdale also had double the number of complaints about pot holes compared to the previous year. The FSB says this correlates to an increase in claims for damage to motor vehicles.

The study into the state of Greater Manchester roads by the FSB suggests conditions have improved in most areas – but progress has been slow. The research has also underlined how it continues to be a postcode lottery from borough to borough as to levels of spending by councils.

Simon Edmondson, FSB Regional Chairman for Greater Manchester, said: “Our members rely heavily on the local road networks to do business, with employees, customers and trade deliveries relying on fast and efficient networks. Poorly maintained roads impede that.

“While this research shows councils are, on the whole, making some headway in maintaining our region’s road network to an acceptable standard, there’s still room for improvement. There were somewhere in the region of 20,000 complaints from the public about damaged roads across the Greater Manchester area in 2014/15 – that figure tells its own story about our roads.”

He added: “The figures also show something of a postcode lottery from borough to borough around the kind of standards you can expect to find. The hope is that devolution in Greater Manchester next year will mean councils will be able to invest more in maintaining highways, and it will hopefully mean a more consistent approach to funding to address the real problem areas.”

The FSB first conducted the research last summer after a poll of its members on local investment needs showed 37% in favour of ‘repairing the region's roads’, ahead of ‘major transport infrastructure’ (31%), and ‘better apprenticeships’ (24%). FSB repeated the FOI based research this year to see where improvements had been made.