Climate change and budget cuts pose road maintenance “challenges”

Climate change and reduced budgets will make the maintenance of roads even more challenging over coming years, Gwynedd highways bosses have warned.

With the Met Office stating that climate change is already having an increasing impact on the UK’s weather – 2019’s UK temperatures were 1.1° C above the 1961-1990 average – a cabinet report has warned of the likely impact on some lesser used roads especially.

Combined with authorities also having to juggle dwindling central government grants, the condition of some unclassified roads in Gwynedd has been described as “deteriorating quickly.”

With the authority being responsible for the upkeep of 2,697km of highway, the vast majority are said to be in good condition with fewer than 4% of “Class A” and “Class B” roads in need of attention.

But officers admit that the same cannot be said for some lesser used routes, of which 14.2% of “Class C” roads are currently categorised as “defective”, stating it has been “more difficult” to maintain such roads to the same standard.

The challenge of improving or even stabilising this figure was described as “considerable,” coupled with an expectation that weather will become only more unpredictable over years to come.

“Due to a reduction in the funds available for local government, it has been more difficult for us to maintain the class C and unclassified roads to the same standard” it stated.

“As a result of the financial pressures on the council, it is inevitable that there will be further pressures on the road maintenance budget, and it will be challenging to prevent deterioration in the quality of our roads, in particular lower priority roads namely Class C and unclassified roads.

“A road maintenance grant is currently in place and will undoubtedly help with maintaining the current levels.
“However, with the effects of climate change, the condition of our unclassified roads is deteriorating quickly.”

Road surfaces have been known to soften, rut and even melt under high temperatures.

A report presented to Parliament stated that the very warm weather in June 2018 saw some bitumen roads in Cumbria begin to melt, leading the local council to grit surfaces.

Meanwhile, a section of the A543 in Conwy had to be closed in both directions because the road surface melted.
However, colder weather also presents its own challenges, with dropping temperatures making asphalt more brittle and prone to cracks.
Repeated freeze-thaw cycles are also known to turn small cracks into large potholes over time.

The portfolio holder for highways, Cllr Catrin Wager, told this week’s cabinet meeting: “The financial situation is making the maintenance of our roads a challenge as well as Covid, which has brought its own problems in terms of staffing and timetabling.

“But climate change and extreme weather is going to have an effect going forward on our roads and bridges, two of those had to be closed in August due to storms, and is something we’ll have to be mindful of going forward.”

However, there was better news elsewhere with the authority managing to exceed its 2019/20 recycling target of 64% of waste being recycled, reused or composted (64.74%).

Over the year, 1,730 street lights were changed to lower consumption LED technology, having moved over 12,000 since 2015/16.
As a result, its estimated that the authority is now saving £260,000 a year as well as reducing carbon emissions (414 CO2).

By Gareth Williams – Local Democracy Reporter