One of the problems which has exacerbated the deterioration of roads in my area is the number of start up companies offering fibre to villages where BT have been slow off the mark.

So they get permission to lay fibre often with low take up from customers and their contractors carry out substandard reinstatement.

The council fail to check on the work, due to lack of engineers, and when residents complain the council find that the contractor responsible was set up to do the work and then go out of business.

Exactly - living on a private development (essentially just non-adopted roads - another very convenient ploy by councils to shirk their responsibilities but still getting full council tax) we've had problems with contractors working for utilitiy companies doing a bad job when repairing their own services and reinstating the road/pathways.

The number of times I could count generally where utility firms dig up the roads within a few days/weeks of a road being resurfaced is truly shocking. Apparently councils get paid very handsomely but them to do this. In the end, local taxpayers foot the bill.

I wonder if the OP bothers to report individual problems? I do, via 'fix my street'. It's then available for the public to view and if damage is caused by for example a bad pothole, then the relevant council have no defence if it's not repaired promptly.

It's been like that nationwide since the 1990s, increasing as each decade goes by. Councils, on the other hand, have increased the budget for worthless virtue-signalling 'initiatives' and schemes, as well as trips, perks and 'expenses' for councillors.

If you're suggesting that money sufficient to maintain the roads has been spent on worthless virtue-signalling 'initiatives' and schemes, as well as trips, perks and 'expenses' for councillors the I'll call bull excrement.

The issue for Councils is that their budgets, set by Whitehall/Westminster, have borne the brunt of the post 2010 austerity.

No need for that sort of language inference. If you can't recognise many such instances of the wasteful and virtue-signally spending by councils (as well as governments*), then I'm sorry for you. Not surprised though.

Even when local council money via government dropped doesn't mean that the councils themselves weren't wasting money on an industrial scale. It just meant for a while they had less to waste.

* I've never said central government doesn't waste money either.

It's been like that nationwide since the 1990s, increasing as each decade goes by. Councils, on the other hand, have increased the budget for worthless virtue-signalling 'initiatives' and schemes, as well as trips, perks and 'expenses' for councillors....

That is so laughably untrue.

As is said above, local government is bearing the brunt of cuts upon cuts and yet had to fund more and more social care.

Roads across the UK will be poor with little work on them since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

And yet my local council (Lib/Lab pact) spends loads on woke virtue-signalling measures, and yes, my county council (yes, Tory) stopped road repairs until recently and then proceded to waste it as I described - one job probably to the tune of several £100ks. Odd how they can fund 'diversity' staff to the tune of £000ks, pull Police away from front line duties to do woke stuff, etc, etc

The problem is that it is just as much the fault of the council managers and contractors as it is the politicians, who don't manage day-to-day operations.

I see and hear about similar things going on in many other areas of the UK.

In my area Somerset County Council have responsibility for the roads. Comments related to lack of maintenance, lack of coordination creating congestion, failure to plan for new housing demands, etc etc are common.

Their total spend in 2020/21 was £346m of which £142m was adult services, £18m schools, and £90m childrens services - 72% of total spend.

Understandably they are very sensitive to shortcomings in adult and kids services - the bits that suffer are those from which most of us benefit and have least central interference or regulation - decent roads, theatres, parks, refuse collection etc

AFAIK central government sets no regulations on frequency of refuse collection - reducing frequency lowers cost, and gets a tick in the environment box for recycling - win-win.

Parking fees go direct to the council - no rules on cost per hour.

Potholes may be a national disgrace - but a few burst tyres and trashed alloys won't butter any parsnips.

I am not defending council efficiency and management but if we want better services it will cost more or existing spend will need to be curtailed - higher taxes.

The aggregate of all that interest groups feel justified and ideally want far exceeds that which is affordable. Just as most folk have to make choices as not all can be immediately afforded - eg: new kitchen, or holiday, or replace car, or school fees etc.

Where I live (West Wilts) they seem quick to repair a pot hole but the repair doesn't last long. Usually a van turns up with some cold-set tarmac, it's compacted down and that's it. The problem is when the next heavy rain comes it just washes out. There's a particularly bad one just at the end of the road, with the way the rain flows across the road at that point it's usually back to a deep pothole in a few weeks.

Similar problems here, but far worse council policies which resulted in many roads being closed, pedestrianised, narrowed to give extra wide pavements ("to help pedestrians keep 2 metres apart in the town centre) and to install each way cycle lanes to and from the Bus station and the railway station.

What twisted imagination thinks cyclists need cycle lanes for 400 yards between bus and rail stations?

Just part of this authority's plan to make it impossible to visit the town centre except by bus, bike or legs (they have also shut a multi story car park).

Tough luck if you are old, disabled or would want to buy heavy or bulky articles in the town. Oh, they have also reduced space for taxis, maybe the council planners have shares in out-of-town shopping centres, they have certainly killed a lot of the town centre shops.

Where I live (West Wilts) they seem quick to repair a pot hole but the repair doesn't last long. Usually a van turns up with some cold-set tarmac, it's compacted down and that's it. The problem is when the next heavy rain comes it just washes out. There's a particularly bad one just at the end of the road, with the way the rain flows across the road at that point it's usually back to a deep pothole in a few weeks.

Indeed - I've seen that happen a LOT on a local re-occurring pothole at the edge of a speed bump.

My county council has also tried a spray - sort of like tiny sticky chippings (similar texture to the 'abrasive' surface just before junctions to aid braking) - for some potholes. It too appears to work for just a few weeks because it never has time to set before being in use.

According to my housing development's handyman/gardener, cold tarmac should really only be used on pathways or lightly-use roads at best for the same reason.

He used it as a trial on a section of pathway that had been split open by tree roots - it looked very poor (lots of gaps and humped) for weeks, then slowly compacted down (though still not anywhere near as good as hot laid tarmac would) via foot traffic and is now completely flat - though not smooth. Not sure if we'll use it again.