EV chargepoints need a real funding boost

BUDGET 2025: Roads maintenance funding welecome, but backlog far outstrips allocation, says ADEPT’s Angela Jones

We welcome the government's commitment to invest over £2bn annually by 2029-30 in local roads maintenance. This will enable local authorities to make progress in improving the condition of local roads across the country. 

However, while this investment is welcomed, further sustained long-term funding commitments will be essential to meaningfully reduce this backlog and allow local authorities to proactively improve the network rather than simply managing decline. The latest Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey data shows the carriageway repair backlog in England and Wales has reached almost £17bn – the highest figure in 30 years of reporting. 

While we welcome the £200m investment in EV charging infrastructure, including the £100m resource funding for local authorities to deploy specialist staff, this funding spread across all authorities simply doesn't go far enough. To truly accelerate the roll-out of public chargepoints and support the transition to electric vehicles at the scale and pace required, government will need to go much further with future investment.

We also welcome the £48m investment to boost capacity in the planning system: local government is experiencing a workforce recruitment and retention crisis, leading to skills gaps that seriously impact service delivery.

The recruitment of 350 additional planners, the new Planning Careers Hub, alongside the commitment to recruit 1,400 professionals directly address a critical issue that ADEPT has been highlighting for some time. 

We look forward to understanding more detail on the implementation of the broader Planning and Infrastructure Bill reforms.

Angela Jones, is president of ADEPT (Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport)