London’s Road Maintenance Backlog

Elly Baker AM moved, and Bassam Mahfouz AM seconded the following motion:

“The Assembly notes the findings from London Councils’ State of the City report 2022 which outlines the state of London’s highways network.

The reports show that the capital has an overall maintenance backlog totalling £1.9bn and an annual maintenance funding gap of £275m, meaning the backlog is likely to increase unless additional funding is found.

Various high-profile road maintenance issues have emerged in recent years, including Hammersmith Bridge, an iconic London landmark, which has been closed to road traffic since 2019 and Broadmead Road bridge, which has been shut to traffic for nine months. This has caused unacceptable traffic problems for our city.

The Assembly also notes that London boroughs and TfL, which are responsible for London’s highways, saw significant cuts to their budgets since 2010 resulting from the policies of the previous Government.

The Assembly calls on the Mayor and the Chair of the Assembly to separately write to the Government to request for a fair long-term funding settlement to help tackle the road maintenance backlog. This should include the devolution of London’s VED revenue, as has long been the settled view of the current Mayor and this Assembly.”

Following debate and upon being put to the vote, the motion was agreed unanimously.