Labour was today accused of trying to ‘rig’ its pothole rankings scheme in favour of its own town halls by quietly including ‘barmy’ Net Zero targets.
Ministers last month announced councils who perform badly at fixing pock-marked local roads would have cash withheld in a bid to drive up the numbers being filled in.
But it descended into farce today as it emerged the small print shows town halls can score points for whether they have ‘plans to decarbonise its maintenance operations and increase climate resilience’.
Critics said ‘green’ targets should have nothing to do with rewards for the amount of potholes fixed and accused Labour of including the measure in an attempt to help its councils – which are among the worst-performing – escape punishment.
They also pointed out it could make Britain’s roads more dangerous because battery-powered road maintenance vehicles can perform poorly in cold weather, when most potholes tend to emerge.
Labour councils are more likely to adopt ‘green’ policies amid Energy Secretary Ed Miliband’s crusade to reach Net Zero as quickly as possible.
Recent analysis found ten of the 16 worst-performing authorities for fixing potholes are under Labour control.
The backlog of potholes on Britain’s smaller local roads would cost £18.6bn to fix in one go, according to industry estimates
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has committed a record £7.3billion towards pothole spending between now and the end of the decade in a bid to tackle the backlog
Richard Holden, the Tories’ Shadow Transport Secretary, said accused Labour of trying to ‘fudge the numbers to make their under-performing councils falsely appear more productive’
It comes ahead of local elections tomorrow, with Labour facing a bloodbath.
The party has already sparked fury among motorists by refusing to scrap its planned fuel duty hike, to kick in from September, despite rocketing pump prices. By contrast, most other countries have cut fuel taxes to help out hard-pressed drivers.
And this week the Mail revealed how ministers are considering allowing town halls outside London to hike parking fines to as much as £160. This is more than double the current cap of £70.
Richard Holden, the Tories’ Shadow Transport Secretary, said: ‘Labour told the British public this was a scheme to hold councils to account for fixing potholes.
‘However, Labour have been fudging the numbers to make their under-performing councils falsely appear more productive.
‘People living in Labour-run councils know the reality.
‘To make matters worse, pushing councils to switch to electric maintenance fleets could leave our roads less safe in winter, when battery vehicles fail in the cold and gritters need to get out.
‘Labour are waging a war on drivers.’
Howard Cox, founder of the FairFuelUK campaign group, said it was ‘barmy’ to include Net Zero targets within the formula for winning pothole cash, adding: ‘This deliberate political deceit, which appears to be an attempt to rig the system, favours Labour councils that are already implementing decarbonisation measures to save the planet.’
Howard Cox, founder of the FairFuelUK campaign group (front, centre) said it was ‘barmy’ to include Net Zero figures within pothole targets
The Daily Mail has been campaigning for more action to end the pothole epidemic plaguing Britain’s smaller local roads
Last month the Department for Transport claimed tough new rules would come into force aimed at ending the ‘pothole plague’.
Under the strategy, ministers said they would withhold a quarter of the cash earmarked for councils unless they share more performance data with the Government on repairs.
But it was largely just a re-announcement of an existing policy under which just one council was rated ‘red’ under the ranking system, meaning they had cash withheld.
The Government has committed a record £7.3billion towards pothole spending between now and the end of the decade in a bid to tackle the backlog, which industry experts say would cost £18.6billion to fix in one go.
A government source hit back, saying: ‘These claims are a pathetic fabrication from tired Tories.
‘They might have gobs the size of some of the potholes they left on our roads, but they’ve got no answers to the problems they saddled Britain’s drivers with.
‘Improving roads by using more weather resilient materials has everything to do with tackling the pothole plague, which this government is doing with record investment in fixing our roads.’
