Watch Terry Jermy MP speak in the House of Commons on Road Maintenance.
General Debate: Road maintenance
I am pleased to be able to speak in this important debate on road maintenance.
As I travelled in this morning, I took a moment to appreciate the headline of my local newspaper, the Eastern Daily Press.
“Norfolk Council starts work to resurface 320 miles of road”
The £12m of investment started today, and I am sure that will be a well-read article because in Norfolk, we are a large rural county and as such, we have extensive road networks, sadly far too many of them are in a bad state of repair.
That resurfacing of 320 miles this financial year is a welcome increase on the 280 miles completed last year, thanks largely to the significant increase in funding awarded to Norfolk County Council by this Labour Government which I am very proud of.
Norfolk received one of the largest sums of money in the whole country with the recent announcements.
For the past decade I’ve been a Norfolk County Councillor, elected in 2013, with continuous service up until the end of March this year when I resigned. During much of that time I led for the Labour Group on roads, transport and the environment.
When I was first elected back in 2013, our highways maintenance backlog sat at around £40million annually, most recently that figure was around £70million – a worrying and disappointing statistic but sadly inevitably given the extensive cuts to local council funding during the past 14 years of Conservative government.
Inflation, particularly construction related inflation is also a significant contributory factor – in the last year alone the repairs backlog in Norfolk has gone up by 20%.
Particularly difficult in Norfolk as a whole given large rural county but especially so in South West Norfolk given our issues with routine flooding and soil make up – we’re either very sandy or very wet and that inevitably impacts road integrity too.
Damage and injury due to potholes in Norfolk also resulted in the county council paying out almost £120,000 in compensation in the 2023/24 financial year. A total of 228 successful claims. For the year before there were just 150 claims, and a total bill of £66,000, so again, further evidence of the worsening problem.
I am fairly safe to say that all members I am sure, routinely receive correspondence or comments on the doorstep about potholes!
Therefore, I was delighted when the Government pledged £1.6bn to go a long way to fixing our roads that have been left unattended for too long.
The broken roads our Labour government inherited are not only risking lives but also cost working families, drivers and businesses hundreds – if not thousands of pounds – in avoidable vehicle repairs.
In 2025, an annual industry report estimated that 17% of the local road network in England and Wales was in poor condition. It predicted that the one-time catch-up cost to clear the backlog of maintenance issues would cost £16.81 billion and take 12 years to complete.
That is the mess we have inherited.
An RAC study highlighted that drivers encounter an average of 6 potholes per mile in England and Wales, and pothole damage to cars costs an average of £600 to fix. According to the AA, fixing potholes is a priority for 96% of drivers.
A 2024 RAC report showed that the area with the longest average time to fix individual holes was Stoke-on-Trent, with a massive 657 days. This was followed by here in Westminster 556 days and the third worst response rate was in my region of Norfolk 482 days.
Under the previous government, The Countryside Alliance has warned of ‘levelling down the countryside’ with figure showing 11.5 million potholes risk not being repaired by rural councils this year.
Not only do the public deserve to know how their councils are improving their local roads, Labour will ensure that they must deliver and show progress or risk losing 25% of their £500 million funding boost.
Connectivity for my constituents is essential; and I was supportive when the Transport Secretary has also unveiled £4.8 billion funding for 2025 to 2026 for National Highways to deliver critical road schemes and maintain motorways and major A-roads.
This cash will mean getting on with pivotal schemes in construction, such as starting vital improvements to the A47 around Norwich which many of my South West Norfolk constituents rely on – and I hope other sections of the A47 will be given the necessary funding in due course.
The governments growth agenda is reliant on not just building but repairing and fixing the basic infrastructure this country relies on. It is central to delivering on a national decade of renewal, which lead to improving living standards, furthering productivity, and securing Britain’s economic future through delivering our Plan for Change.
Thank you.
