Pothole crisis will only get worse as research suggests 85% of councils to cut road maintenance projects

The chairman of the County Councils Network (CCN) has warned cyclists and other road users that the state of roads in England and Wales is likely to continue to deteriorate as research from the group found that 85 per cent of councils plan to cut their roads maintenance projects next year.

Tim Oliver told The Telegraph that inflation has hit the cost of resurfacing works which, combined with the cold weather makes it "inevitable" that there will be more potholes on the roads.

The body represents 36 councils and estimates that it would cost an additional £500 million to continue with original maintenance plans as some local authorities have experienced a 25 per cent increase in construction costs on road schemes.

> Is there a pothole crisis on Britain's roads?

"This coupled with the weather makes it inevitable that there will likely be more potholes and defects on roads as local authorities try to catch-up on roads work which is costing significantly more compared to 12 months ago," Mr Oliver said.

The Asphalt Industry Alliance's annual ALARM survey suggests it would now cost £12.6 billion to fix potholes on all of England's local roads, an estimated nine-year-long process, up £3.6 billion since 2012.

In January, an Oxfordshire cyclist slammed the state of their local roads, sharing a picture of a pothole "so deep I can park my bike in it".

> "Same question every winter": Cyclists slam "disgraceful" state of Britain's pothole-covered roads

The complaint about the dire state of the roads came just over a week after the death of 84-year-old retired music teacher, cycling club president, and father-of-three Harry Colledge, who was killed while riding his bike on a rural road near the Lancashire village of Winmarleigh after his front wheel got stuck in a deep crack in the road.

The late cyclist's wife, Valerie Colledge, called on both central and local governments to do more to protect people cycling on the UK's "woefully inadequate" rural roads.

North of the border concerns have been aired too, one Glasgow cyclist raising the alarm about the worrying state of the roads six months ahead of the best professional riders in the world arriving for the UCI World Championships.

Pictures taken by a road.cc reader show numerous large potholes and patched sections of tarmac, with Glasgow cyclist Liam McReanan suggesting the event "may be remembered for all the wrong reasons" unless something is done to improve the surface ahead of August.

Tagging UCI president David Lappartient in a social media post, the local rider said the "UK has some of the worst roads in Western Europe and the roads around Glasgow are some of the worst in the UK."