Chancellor pledges £500 million for highway maintenance

News

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in the Budget today that the current rate of 52.95p a litre for fuel duty, due to end in April 2025, will continue for the 2025/26 financial year.

Reeves has also pledged an extra £500 million for highway maintenance. This will bring the total amount for highway maintenance in England this year to approximately, just over £1.625 billion.

The Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) chair, David Giles, said: “It was encouraging to hear the Chancellor acknowledge that the condition of our local roads is a reminder of ‘our failure to invest as a nation’, however it’s disappointing that the opportunity to deliver a step change was missed. 

“While, the additional £500 million for highway maintenance next year is welcome, it falls short of the long-term funding horizon the sector has been calling for. And, with a one-time catch-up cost of £14.4 billion in England alone, this additional allocation is a fraction of what’s needed to prevent further decline. 

“Local roads, which underpin all other local services, help support growth and are a key issue for members of the public and we know from our ALARM survey that conditions are at an all-time low, and that this is the result of decades of underfunding. Our hope was that the Chancellor would have announced a multi-year ringfenced commitment allowing local authorities to plan and proactively carry out the effective maintenance needed to drive improvement in our local roads.” 

The Chancellor also mentioned wanting to increase the uptake of electric vehicles (EV) by saying: “We want to support the take up of electric vehicles, so I will maintain the incentives for electric vehicles in company car packs from 2028 and increase the differential between fully electric and other vehicles in the first year, rates of vehicle excise duty from April 2025 these measures will raise around £400 million pounds by the end of the forecast period.”