BREXIT and potholes have been the topics I have discussed the most in the past month.

As the UK seems to be gripped by a wave of policy uncertainty and indecision the dark spectre of potholes continues for good reasons to occupy the public mind in what is now a national epidemic.

The AA have revealed that the cost to motorists and insurers is now £1 million a month with more than 4,200 pothole related claims lodged in the first four months of the year, greater than the whole figure in 2017.

Of course many drivers don’t claim on their insurance so this figure is the tip of the iceberg/bottom of the pothole.

UK roads are overcrowded and underfunded and we are 27th in the world for road quality despite some of the highest road and fuel taxes in the world.

We need bolder thinking to actually deliver some solutions – as the number of vehicles licensed for use in the UK has doubled since the 1990s and will double again by 2040.

The advent of zero or low emission vehicles will reduce significantly the tax take to the Treasury – so there is a need to consider a new funding resolution for our roads.

One easy low cost solution might be to turn more motorway hard shoulders into traffic lanes.

The problem is that wider roads seem to fill up more quickly with more traffic.

Locally potholes are in the same priority choice lists as adult social care, protecting vulnerable young people and care home fees in a pressurised budget brought about by enforced austerity measures.

The additional Government funding for potholes has helped a little but it’s interesting to note that there seems to be a correlation between additional Government pothole funding announcements and a rise in the cost of contractors fees for fixing the roads.

Our local council here in Warrington spends £1.3 million a year on fixing the roads which clearly doesn’t meet the demands of motorists and the NHS and motorists end up paying for the victims of the ‘pothole’.

The answers aren’t easy but I would heavily suggest that the Government needs to consider a new funding upgrade model for roads nationally and locally.

That’s of course if they can get out of the Brexit pothole.

By Steven Broomhead