Powys faces huge roads challenge says cabinet member

Powys County Council today confirmed it faced a huge challenge after research revealed the county had the worst road surfaces in Wales.

Cabinet Member for Highways, Councillor Liam Fitzpatrick said: “Maintaining the network, particularly at a time of severe financial pressure, has been extremely challenging in recent years as councils in the UK concentrate more and more on social care .

“Indeed to bring our roads in Powys back to the standard of 2010 it would now cost us £40million which causes me grave concern. 

“Nevertheless we go forward and as spring finally arrives we will begin  with road strengthening, surface dressing and road improvements, although we know there is a great deal more to do,” he added.

“Powys has by far the largest road network in Wales, larger even than a small European country like Luxembourg at 4,500km in length. That does not include the trunk roads which add on another 500kms and are paid for and maintained by the Welsh Government.” 

 Earlier this week information sourced from The Data Unit Wales for Local Authority Performance revealed that 19.6% of the county’s roads were deemed to be in “poor condition” over the last six years with Ceredigion next at 14.7%.

Six years of public data from the unit has been analysed with road conditions measured by vehicles that carry out annual surveys. They measure the extent of defects such as bumpiness and cracking of the road surface.  

For Wales in 2016-17, around 10% of all of its roads were deemed in poor condition. That works out at 3,110 km meaning Powys figures were double the national average.

And the Asphalt Industry Alliance has said the cost of getting roads in England and Wales back into a reasonable condition had increased to £12bn. Its study said too much money was still being spent on fixing sudden cracks and patching holes rather than on long-term maintenance and investment.