Red rating in road report from Westminster

Dudley Council has been given a red rating from Westminster on a new best practice scorecard for roads maintenance.

The rating was handed out in a new survey from the Department of Transport rating councils on their road maintenance policies.

Along with the majority of councils, Dudley was given an amber rating overall which means it has some good qualities but there is room for improvement according to ministers.

Dudley fell short of the standard set by neighbouring authorities Sandwell and Worcestershire which collected an overall green rating.

One of the factors contributing to Dudley’s poor best practice performance was the amount of road it planned to resurface in the current financial year which was 25km compared to 80km in Worcestershire.

Sandwell planned to resurface less than Dudley with 15km but scored well with 55km earmarked for preventative treatments, much higher than Dudley’s 4km.

Preventative treatments can include surface dressing and sealing to protect against bad weather and the development of potholes.

Other factors affecting best practice scores in the survey were whether an authority had plans to adopt innovative technology, whether  it planned to minimise disruption from roadworks, if it planned to help fight climate change and whether it planned to maintain footways and cycleways.

While Dudley may have been in the red for best practice, the authority was in the green for its performance on the spend scorecard; being scored highly for how much it plans to spend on roads compared with funding allocated from Westminster.

The government says it released the ratings so drivers can see how well councils are tackling what they call the ‘pothole plague’.

Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, said: “For too long drivers have paid the price because our roads were left to deteriorate. 

“I have heard time and again their frustration on footing the bill because they hit a pothole – money they should never have to spend in the first place. 

“We’ve put our money where our mouth is, increasing the funding for councils with £7.3 billion to fix roads and given them the long-term certainty they have been asking for. 

“Now it’s over to them to spend the money wisely, and for the first time we are making sure the public can see how well councils are doing in delivering the improvements they want to see in their local area.”