00:00For drivers in Birmingham, even an ordinary journey can come with an expensive surprise.
00:06Potholes can damage tyres, wheels and suspension, and complaints about the roads are reaching the council chamber.
00:13But is the council's financial crisis part of the reason repairs have fallen behind?
00:19And what would it take to get the roads back into shape?
00:23Well, there's no doubt that Birmingham, a sort of city that, of course, declared bankruptcy not that many years ago,
00:28it's had really tight budgets.
00:30Of course, it's had to sort of, it's had the commissions here to sort of, if you like, trying to
00:33remedy the situation.
00:35Our council taxes have gone up.
00:37So, of course, the sort of the fact is that we sort of expect that money to be spent on
00:40doing the important things.
00:41But it seems that sort of repair of the roads and potholes in particular has not been the sort of
00:47the number one priority.
00:48Now, of course, potholes, well, they are a sort of menace because, of course, if you drive over one, you
00:53can damage your car.
00:54Of course, you can sort of try and claim compensation.
00:56But nobody wants that.
00:57But we want some really sort of good roads.
00:59And quite clearly, sort of the roads budget has been impacted by this.
01:03At a full council meeting on the 3rd of November, Councillor Raheem Abbas said potholes in his ward had become
01:10craters and were damaging cars.
01:12He said he'd sent five emails asking the cabinet member to visit.
01:17Deputy Leader Julian Pritchard says three plans putting more money into roads have been approved.
01:23He says repairs have started, but years of underinvestment will take time to put right.
01:28The council's own September report says its old roads contract failed to deliver the improvements needed.
01:35It sets out £42.2 million for planned highway maintenance in 2026-27 with separate funding for everyday repairs.
01:46We have a particularly difficult climate in this country.
01:49It can be raining one day, sun in the next, and we're going to have frost, snow.
01:52So, you know, which, of course, is very difficult as far as sort of tarmac is concerned, which, of course,
01:56likes to have it sort of consistently sort of warm or cold or whatever.
01:59And you can sort of design for that.
02:01And, of course, the other thing that we have, and, of course, we see this all the time.
02:04We have sort of lorries which do immense impact to our roads.
02:07And, of course, lots of vans going around because, of course, they deliver the things that we sort of want
02:11to deliver to our sort of doorstep.
02:13But there is no doubt about it, of course, as our cars become bigger and, as I say, you know,
02:18the sort of the whole EV thing has caused us sort of an issue.
02:21But as I say, the heavier the load, the more the damage that's done, and particularly a fully laid and
02:27articulated lorry does 50,000 times more damage than a sort of a car with four passengers.
02:35So it's a problem as, of course, you know, we sort of we live in the sort of the motor
02:39driven age where, of course, we have our goods delivered to the supermarket each day.
02:42While the council plans to bring its final roads strategy to cabinet before the new year, it will help decide
02:49which repairs take priority with funding short of what the whole backlog needs.
02:55So for now, expect a bumpy journey.
