LABOUR’S £350M POTHOLE FUND TO TACKLE DUMBARTON ROADS ‘IN SAD STATE’

by Lucy Ashton 

Dumbarton’s MSP Jackie Baillie has backed her party’s plans to tackle potholes with a £350 million fighting fund. 

Scottish Labour’s Leader, Anas Sarwar, announced this week that the party would fix up to five million more potholes than the SNP Government. 

And a £350 million pothole fund will be created to target crumbling roads over the next five years. 

It is estimated that almost five million more potholes can be fixed using the cash. 

Scottish Labour has announced that money will be repurposed from the Active and Sustainable Travel Budget and backed by greater oversight and additional preventative measures, to improve the long-term condition of the nation’s roads. 

Dumbarton, Helensburgh and Lomond MSP Jackie Baillie, right, also Scottish Labour’s Deputy Leader, said the “sad state” of the nation’s roads is proof of how the SNP Government has failed to deliver on the basics. 

She said: “After nearly 20 years of SNP administration, Scotland’s public services have crumbled – and so have our roads. 

“Many roads in my Dumbarton constituency are in a sad state, and potholes are causing daily misery for drivers throughout Scotland. 

“I recently visited a housing estate in Alexandria where a line of potholes have become so deep they are effectively running into one massive crater. 

“It is proof that the hopeless SNP cannot get the basics right and cannot be trusted with our roads or our public services. 

“Scottish Labour will fix the SNP’s mess, repair roads and deliver a £350 million boost to roads budgets. 

“Voters are faced with a stark choice in May – more of the same with John Swinney’s SNP or a better future for our communities with Scottish Labour.” 

Scottish Labour has previously revealed that spending on local roads has plummeted by 13 per cent since 2010/11, as a result of SNP cuts to council budgets.

Scottish Labour’s potholes plan 

Scottish Labour will repurpose £350 million over five years from the active and sustainable transport budget to fix Scotland’s roads.

• In doing so an average of £70m of funding from the active and sustainable travel budget will be repurposed annually to improve road surfaces. All road users, including cyclists and sustainable travel users, require good quality roads for their journeys. We will protect funded intended for bus infrastructure investment but restoring road maintenance will be a priority for a Scottish Labour government to protect all road users from harm caused by crumbling roads and reducing the compensation paid out by local authorities for damage caused by potholes. Between 2019/20 and 2023/24 councils paid out £4.2m in compensation (Source)
• According to AsphaltUK the average cost of filling in potholes elsewhere in the UK in 2024/25 was £72.40 (Source). Should similar costs apply in Scotland a £350m fund would fund the repair of 4.83 million potholes.
• According to the Local Government Benchmarking Framework since 2010/11 there has been a 13% fall in local government spending on roads (Source)

Scottish Labour say they will also take action to improve road maintenance to prevent roads falling into such disrepair in the first place.

• As well as commissioning the first national audit of Scotland’s roads since 2016, we will enhance inspections and enforce tougher fines on utilities that damage roads bundling road and utility repairs, and using Section 58 protections for new roads.  We will also cut red tape and limit the delays from objections to Traffic Regulation Orders, which routinely delay works by 18 months.
• Scottish Labour will also abolish the Office of the Scottish Roadworks Commissioner and bring the Roadworks Registry under Transport Scotland control. This Registry will set a minimum repair/road standard, to protect public money and deliver better long-term investment in our roads, and we will trial and assess innovative repair methods, including thermal road repairs, trenchless technologies, surface dressing and self-healing asphalt