REA Response to ALARM Survey Report 2025: More Pothole Prevention Needed to Future-Proof Local Roads
The Road Emulsion Association has reacted to this year’s Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) Survey Report, released by the Asphalt Industry Alliance, calling on more investment into preventative road maintenance.
The REA has also called for the need to consider having two separate funding streams for road maintenance within local authorities: One for preventative works and one to repair the damage caused by neglected and untreated local roads. This would enable local authorities to plan ahead rather than having to use all the existing funds for reactive maintenance (pothole filling).
Following the launch of the REA ‘Future Proofing Our Local Roads’ campaign, the organisation has highlighted why an increased rollout of surface dressing and encapsulation is needed to stop potholes from appearing in the first place.
Surface dressing is a road maintenance technique which extends the lifespan of roads and improves surface conditions. It involves spraying a layer of bitumen emulsion (binder) onto the existing road surface, followed by the application of stone chippings, which are then rolled into the emulsion layer.
The process enhances skid resistance, waterproofing, and adds to climate change resilience, helping to prevent potholes and cracks by sealing the surface against water.
An added layer of emulsion can also be applied, over the chippings which further prevents water ingress and adds resilience. This is known as encapsulation and is already used by some local authorities to future proof local roads.
Because these preventative methods extend the life of local roads, surface dressing and encapsulation are seen as cost effective and less harmful to the environment, compared to fixing numerous potholes and laying whole new asphalt layers.
Kevin Maw, Consultant and Secretary of the Road Emulsion Association, said: “This has been said before, but the UK’s road infrastructure has most certainly reached a crossroads and the decisions on how we prioritise highway maintenance have never been more critical.
“The REA has highlighted that many years of decline in the use of surface dressing to a level that is almost half of that applied 12-years ago is clearly linked to the increase in potholes and road surface deterioration, to a level never experienced in my lifetime.
“We are at a point where we potentially need to consider two fit-for-purpose funding streams to allow our highway engineers to recover from this serious deterioration.
“There is a clear requirement to provide improved funding for preventative treatments, to allow the return of a pro-active preventative maintenance approach. We can then start to see and feel the benefits of such treatments in cost effectively extending the life of the road network through methods like surface dressing.
“Unfortunately, due to previous under investment in preventative maintenance, we need specific funding to resurface the many roads that are now beyond repair using surface treatments.
“If the increased overall funding from the UK Government to a level of £1.6 billion is simply sank into pothole patching, to meet targets, then the underlying problems of the UK’s roads will not be resolved or improved from where we are today. We will, in my opinion, be here again in 2026 with another ALARM report highlighting a similar, if not worse, position.”
You can read the full ALARM Survey Report here: https://www.asphaltuk.org/alarm-survey-page/.
