The 2025 Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey report, out today, reveals that 52% of the local road network – around 106,000 miles – is reported to have less than 15 years’ structural life remaining.
And, almost a third of these – 34,600 miles – may only have up to five years life left.
David Giles, chair of the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), which commissions the ALARM survey, said: “Over £20bn has been spent on carriageway maintenance in England and Wales over the last decade, including spending to fill the equivalent of one pothole every 18 seconds, every day, for 10 years.
“However, due partly to the short-term nature of the allocation of funding, it has resulted in no quantifiable uplift in the condition and resilience of the network.
“In fact almost all (94%) local authority highway teams reported that, in their opinion, there has been no improvement to their local network over the last year: a view no doubt shared by the majority of road users.”
The ALARM survey reports local road funding and conditions in England and Wales based on information provided directly by those responsible for the maintenance of the network. This year’s survey, the 30th, received a record 78% response rate from local authorities.
Over the past three decades ALARM has reported a repeated pattern of short-term cash injections in an effort to stem the accelerating decline in road conditions, followed by longer periods of cuts and underfunding.
The ALARM 2025 report, which relates to the financial year to end of March 2025, shows that in England and Wales:
- Local authorities would have needed an extra £7.4m each last year to maintain their network to their own target conditions and prevent further deterioration.
- £16.81bn is now reported to be 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.
- Just 1.5% of the local road network was resurfaced in the last year.
- Roads are only resurfaced, on average, once every 93 years.
- 1.9 million potholes have been filled at a cost of £137.4 million.
“There needs to be a complete change in mindset away from short-