On Saturday 5th July, stage one of the Tour de France will begin in Leeds[1]. This will be the first time that Yorkshire has hosted the event and only the fourth time part of race has taken place in the UK. The route of the race, from Leeds to Harrogate in stage one and then from York to Sheffield in stage 2, will carry the cyclists past some of the most breathtaking sights in the UK, however Yorkshire’s notoriously badly maintained road network needs to undergo a major programme of repairs before the commencement of the race if the event is to be a success.

According to the BBC[2], local authorities in Yorkshire have agreed to spend £4 million on improving the roads comprising the race’s route before the Grand Départ in July. North Yorkshire County Council[3] is responsible for maintaining more than half of the roads used in the race and they will be spending around £2 million on the repairs, however, the total sum that would be needed to repair all of the damaged roads in Yorkshire would exceed £1 billion and the time needed to action the repairs would be over 11 years. North Yorkshire alone currently has a backlog of necessary repairs that will cost in the region of £322m to complete.

Local authorities in Yorkshire have not received any extra funding from central government for event-related repairs, meaning that the £4 million being spent on repairs to the race route is coming out of an already stretched budget for road maintenance[4]. This will mean that the priority list with regards to road repairs will have to be altered in the run up to the event, meaning that ultimately the resident road users of the region could lose out as repairs in other areas are put on hold.

This fear was confirmed by the leader of North Yorkshire County Council, who recently explained in a letter to Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin[5] that whilst the repairs to the Tour de France route will not dramatically increase the amount the County needs to spend on road repairs, they will cause spending to be shifted away from other roads. He also said that although damage to road surfaces is a problem in many areas of the UK, he feels Yorkshire is particularly badly affected due to exposure to ‘extreme weather’ and the increased weight of HGVs and agricultural vehicles. In this letter the council leader asked the transport secretary for a contribution of a further £5m towards the costs of repairing the roads in the run up to the race, which a department for transport spokesperson has said will be considered.

The repair programme in preparation for the race is already underway with many roads on the route either already, or in the process of being resurfaced, which will help with the problem of potholes in the road. According to the Yorkshire Post, improvements will also be made to junctions and traffic signalling and investment will be made to improve pedestrian and cycle facilities in the Harrogate area as a result of a successful bid to the Government’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund. However, as mentioned above, the majority of roads in Yorkshire that are in need of repair will not be dealt with as part of this programme, so the risk of injury or damage to property as a result of poorly maintained road remains very real especially for cyclists in the area.

Apart from motorways and some major trunk roads, which are maintained by the Highways Agency[6], the maintenance of roads is the responsibility of local authorities. Claims for accidents that occur as a direct result of the poor condition of the road are governed by the Highways Act 1980. This Act confirms that outside of greater London, the council of a county (or a metropolitan district) is the highway authority for all highways in that county (or district).

According to this act, the relevant public authorities have a legal duty to maintain the roads at public expense.  In the event of an injury or other form of damage being caused as a direct result of the poor state of a road, the authority may have breached their duty and the injured party may be able to make a claim for compensation against the relevant local authority responsible for that road. However, there is no automatic right to compensation in such circumstances, in particular, the council will not have to pay compensation for damage caused if they took all reasonable steps to maintain the road in question. For example, if the council had made reasonable inspections of the roads and had repaired any defects in the road they were made aware of, they would not be liable for any damage caused as a result of the road being in a state of disrepair.

The Tour de France 2014 is set to be a spectacle that will draw thousands of visitors and cyclists to Yorkshire not only in July, but for many years to come and it will no doubt have a positive impact on the area in many ways, however, whether or not it has a positive impact on the state of the roads in the area remains to be seen. With a huge backlog of repairs and councillors from North Yorkshire County Council claiming that they would ideally need around £60m a year to keep the roads in good repair even if that backlog was wiped out (more than double their current yearly allowance for road maintenance), it seems likely that potholes will continue to cause problems for cyclists in Yorkshire long after the Tour de France bids “Au revoir”.

Sources

[1] letour.yorkshire.com

[2] www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-26442885

[3] www.northyorks.gov.uk

[4] www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/racing/tour-de-france/4million-bill-to-fix-yorkshires-roads-ahead-of-tour-de-france-116866

[5] www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/tdf/5m-plea-to-head-off-roads-crisis-as-race-looms-1-6443645

[6] www.highways.gov.uk