New National Potholes Fund created as part of autumn statement

Chancellor George Osborne creates a new fund to help tackle potholes, while confirming extra investment in transport...

New National Potholes Fund created as part of autumn statement

A new, permanent National Pothole Fund is to be created to help tackle the problem of potholes in the UK.

The announcement was made by the Chancellor, George Osborne, as part of the spending review and autumn statement today. The fund of £250 million, which will be provided over the next five years, is on top of an extra £5 billion for road maintenance.

The Chancellor also revealed that an extra £250 million will be set aside to build a permanent lorry park and other structures to take pressure off local road routes while Operation Stack is in progress.

Osborne is also planning to tackle the motor insurance industry. By ending the right to cash compensation from minor whiplash claims, he expects the industry to pass on this saving to motorists, which should translate to around £30 per year per household through their insurance premiums.

As previously announced in the Spring budget, fuel duty will also be frozen until next March.

The current diesel supplement for company cars will also be retained until 2021, by which time new EU testing regulations will have been introduced. The full budget document says: "EU-wide testing procedures will ensure new diesel cars meet air quality standards even under strict real-world driving conditions."

As part of wide-ranging budget cuts, the Department for Transport's operation budget is being cut by 37%, while overall investment in transport is being increased by 50%, to £61 billion over the course of the current Parliament.