Labour’s record investment in our roads will lead to improvements and councils must not drag their feet in delievering them

The issue of the condition of roads across Mansfield is raised with me frequently. Since becoming an MP, hundreds of constituents have contacting me about potholes, crumbling surfaces and roads that have been left to deteriorate for far too long. Time and again the message from constituents is the same: our roads are simply not good enough.

Potholes damage vehicles, increase costs for families and put human safety at risk. In an email typical of the many that I have received, one resident described being left alone in Mansfield in the early hours after a punctured tyre, waiting until 5 am for recovery and assistance, and feeling vulnerable and unsafe.

Another constituent wrote to me about her estate, where a single pothole on her street is almost impossible to avoid, causing serious vehicle damage. She no longer reports issues to Nottinghamshire County Council, because she has no confidence that it will lead to meaningful change. Instead, she sees the same pattern repeated: small temporary patches of tarmac that break down after a very short period, or potholes simply marked with spray paint and left for weeks. This is why residents feel that they are paying more and more in council tax only to receive less in return.

How did we get into this situation? Quite simply: roads do not last without regular, planned resurfacing. Yet roads are being allowed to deteriorate until they break down completely, leading to expensive and reactive repairs. Once that happens, the cost spiral is immediate. Patching potholes becomes more expensive than prevention, and each intervention lasts less time. We are, therefore, spending more for worse outcomes.

Under the last Conservative Government, central funding for local authorities was significantly reduced, particularly from 2010-2015. We all saw the impact of that on local services. After taking inflation into account, the real-terms cumulative loss in funding in Nottinghamshire over 14 years amounted to tens of millions. Furthermore, because highways maintenance is not ringfenced, local authorities diverted their limited resources to meet other obligations, further weakening any capacity for preventive maintenance.

That responsibility does not stop at the national level. My constituents will remember when Nottinghamshire County Council was led by the Conservatives under Ben Bradley who was simultaneously the MP for Mansfield. As council leader, he failed to reverse the deterioration of local roads or secure the additional funding needed, despite being in a prime position to do so.

I am pleased that the Government have rejected further deterioration and decline, instead choosing the path of investment in our roads. I welcome that the Labour Government recently set out a record £7.3 billion national multi-year settlement for local road maintenance over the next four years. That is on top of the Government’s investment of £1.6 billion for this financial year, a £500 million increase compared with the last financial year. This is real year-on-year growth, rather than managed decline.

Under the previous system, funding for 2024-25 in Nottinghamshire stood at just £18.6 million. However, under this Labour Government, working alongside the combined authority and Mayor Claire Ward, funding for 2026-26 is £44.7 million and will rise again to £46.9 million in 2026-27. That is tens of millions of pounds of additional funding to help fix our roads. The contrast with what came before could not be clearer: investment under Labour and decline under the Conservatives.

Labour investment means that Nottinghamshire County Council has both the resources and the responsibility to deliver. I accept that there is a major backlog of repairs but with these record funding settlements, Nottinghamshire County Council cannot claim that it is unable to get this done due to a lack of funds. The money is coming in; the question now is whether it can be used effectively at local level.

We are investing more than ever before, we are changing a system that has failed for too long and we are giving councils the tools they need to succeed. However, this funding must translate into visible improvements on the ground, because residents in Mansfield do not measure success in budget lines or policy papers. They measure it by whether their roads are finally fit for purpose. That is the standard that I believe the Labour Government are now setting, and I will continue to hold the council to account for making sure it is met.