One fifth of local roads 'undriveable' in five years

37,000 miles of road in poor condition. £14billion of funding required

- Tristan Shale-Hester

AN astonishing 18 per cent of roads in England and Wales will be undriveable in five years' time, unless billions of pounds of investment is made, according to a new report.

The Asphalt Industry Alliance's (AIA) Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey suggests that one in five roads - equivalent to 37,000 miles - are in such poor condition that they have less than five years of life left in them.

A total of around £14billion is needed to fix every pothole in England and Wales. This estimate is £2billion higher than that made in last year's ALARM survey and £5billion more than was needed in 2012. The Government recently announced an additional £200million of investment in pothole repairs (Issue 1,772), meaning a total budget of £700million for 2023/24, but motoring groups said this would not make much difference.