More than £12M of additional funding will be provided to fix potholes on Somerset's roads from April 2025, the government has confirmed.

Transport secretary Heidi Alexander MP announced shortly before Christmas that local authorities across the south west would share £300M of extra cash to repair and improve damaged roads, on top of their annual baseline funding.

Of this additional funding, just over £12M will be provided to Somerset Council, with the funding being targeted to the roads "in most need of repair".

The council has welcomed the additional funding but said it was too soon to announce any specific schemes or locations which would benefit as a result.

Under the Department for Transport (DfT) baseline calculations, Somerset Council will receive £32,887,000 from central government towards its highway work in the 2025/26 financial year.

The recent announcement sees an extra £12,078,000 provided on top of this – bringing the total sum being provided from April 2025 to £44,965,000.

While a sizeable amount, this represents less than a tenth of the council's overall budget, with around two-thirds being directly at statutory services for the elderly and vulnerable children and adults.

In a further boost to motorists, chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves MP froze fuel duty at its current level in her first budget, delivered in late-October 2024 – saving the average car driver £59 a year.

Prime minister Keir Starmer said: "Broken roads can risk lives and cost families hundreds if not thousands of pounds on repairs. That's a cost that can easily be avoided by investing properly in our roads.

"Through our Plan for Change, we're determined to put more money back into the pockets of hard-working people and improve living standards.

"That's why we're giving councils funding to repair our roads and get Britain moving again – with a clear expectation that they get on with the job."

Ms Alexander added: "Potholes have plagued motorists for far too long, but this record investment will start to reverse a decade of decline on our country's roads.

"Potholes damage cars and make pedestrians and cyclists less safe. We are investing £1.6bn to fix up to seven million more potholes next year.

"This government is firmly on the side of drivers. Every area of England will get extra cash to tackle this problem once and for all.

"We have gone beyond our manifesto commitment to back motorists and help raise living standards in every part of the country."

In order to ensure that this additional funding is used properly, 25 per cent of the uplift (i.e. around £3M) will be held back until the council has demonstrated to the DfT that it is delivering much-needed improvements.

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: "This is the biggest one-off road maintenance funding settlement councils in England have ever been given, so we have high hopes it's the turning point that ends the degradation of our roads and finally delivers fit-for-purpose, smooth surfaces for drivers and all other road users.

"What's particularly positive is that this announcement is not just about giving councils money to fix dangerous potholes, it comes with the important caveat of using the money wisely by carrying out preventative maintenance to stop more potholes appearing in the future.

"It's also good to see the government proactively encouraging drivers to report potholes, requiring councils to collect the right data to capture the true state of their road networks and incentivising authorities that use the money to good effect."

AA president Edmund King added: "Drivers and riders across England will be pleased to see this significant cash injection into smoothing out the local road network.

"With most journeys starting and ending on local roads, it is vital to restore the structural integrity of the streets we live on.

"We urge councils to focus on permanent and innovative repairs rather than adopting a 'patch and run' approach.

"Better maintenance of the road network is the number one concern of drivers as damage costs a fortune and potholes can be fatal for those on two wheels."

Somerset Council has welcomed the additional funding but has not yet confirmed which areas of the county will benefit from it – and has called on the government to provide greater certainty over funding from 2026 onwards.

Councillor Richard Wilkins, portfolio holder for transport and waste services, said: "This is good news and we appreciate the extra money which we will certainly put to good use to keep our roads in the best possible condition.

"We await the fine detail about the withheld element and hope this is not too much of a burden on the authority which has limited resources for bureaucratic processes.

"We also hope this becomes a long-term fund as it is difficult to deal with the tap being turned on and off by government."

To report potholes in your area, visit www.somerset.gov.uk/roads-travel-and-parking/report-a-problem-on-the-road.