Kommunen, die es nicht schaffen, die „Schlaglochplage“ zu beenden, wird die Finanzierung verweigert

Spray paint cocks and balls on it make it bigger every month it’s there they soon get the idea to fill it.

“We need more money to fix the potholes.”

“Fix the potholes or no money!”

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

[The average weight of a car has risen 800kg since the Millennium](https://www.autocar.co.uk/sites/autocar.co.uk/files/styles/body-image/public/avg_weight.jpg). Because of how the scaling works (fourth-power(!) of axle-weight), that’s a +900% increase in damage to the road surface.

This isn’t a Local Council problem. Its a National Regulation issue. Heavy cars need to be taxed at levels appropriate to the damage they cause. Throwing money at the problem does nothing if you don’t address the root issue, it just leads to spiralling costs when the problem comes back.

 

Its doubly insane to blame the Councils when they don’t receive any funding to do it. VED and Fuel Duty both go to the Treasury. Road Maintenance comes out of Council Tax. Which means people who don’t drive are subsidising those who do!

All at a time when Councils can barely even meet their statutory responsibilities on Social Care. Why are we surprised there’s so many potholes, exactly?

 

Good money after bad…

Fix the System.

Only isn’t that going to end up making their potholes even worse ?

Maybe some degree of ‘contingent funding’.

Stat reclaiming the coats from drivers causing it. We let them use it in the understanding that they don’t damage it but they’ve been allowed free rein for decades now.

The simple fact is that the whole council funding and expenditure model needs to be overhauled. Councils are drowning in the cost of social care, special needs education and support, and emergency housing. Many are effectively bankrupt at this point.

A lot of this routes back to the housing crisis, and a real time massive drop in funding from the central government. Something needs to change before the whole system collapses.

Maybe start by addressing the cause, not just the symptoms. The fourth power law shows that road damage caused by a motor vehicle increases with the fourth power of its axle load. We should be taxing oversized SUVs and pickup trucks—which are increasingly common on our roads—accordingly.

A 2.5-tonne Range Rover can cause around 16 times more surface damage than a Vauxhall Astra. To put that into perspective, you could commute back and forth to work seven days a week and still cause less damage than a single trip in one of these mini tanks.

I’ve seen some being fixed local to me, but then in a short space of time whatever they filled it in with starts to break away again and it’s back to square one. Are they using really cheap materials or something?

That’ll help..! When councils are already struggling, starve them of funding even more when they can’t afford to fix the roads properly already.

Take the opportunity to reclaim our roads from the motoring menace and pedestrianise them!

Would be fairly straightforward to bring in a gaggle of truly independent auditors and force yer local council into justify charging £150+ for emptying bins.